Risk Factors for Recurrent Perceived Voice Disorders in Elementary School Teachers-A Longitudinal Study.

Objective: To identify the progression of voice disorders and their risk factors in teachers.

Design: Longitudinal quantitative study conducted in municipal schools.

Method: Of the 575 teachers who participated in the baseline study, 469 were re-evaluated after 3 years of the initial study. Out of these, 152 reported having a voice disorder at baseline and participated in the re-evaluation. Voice disorders were diagnosed with the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) and teachers were considered positive for voice disorders when the total score was above 19. Symptoms of common mental disorder were measured with the SRQ-20 scale (Self-Reporting Questionnaire, 20 items), with a cut-off value of 8 points. A bivariate analysis was performed using Poisson regression to verify the differences in the proportion of teachers who continued presenting a voice disorder among the different categories of the independent variables in the study.

Results: A total of 69.1% of the teachers reported having a voice disorder after 3 years. High prevalence of acute common mental disorder symptoms was a predictor for a recurring perceived voice disorder. The risk of having a voice disorder was 30% higher for teachers who presented a common mental disorder 3 years after.

Conclusions: Teachers who had both a voice disorder and symptoms of common mental disorder were more likely to maintain the voice disorder.