Identifying Occupations at Risk of Laryngeal Disorders in an Academic Laryngology Clinic

Abstract

Objectives:

Identify occupations of new laryngology patients found in high prevalence compared with the occupations of the surrounding general population. Laryngeal disorders have been associated with several occupations, including teachers, singers, and telemarketers. Our study may help identify new groups of patients at risk for laryngeal pathology.

Methods:

Using our laryngology clinic database, we determined prevalence of occupations in employed new patients from 1993 to 2012 and compared this with data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the greater Boston area over the same time period. Proportions with confidence intervals were used to establish statistical significance.

Results:

The occupations of 10,119 patients were analyzed. Occupations with statistically significant higher prevalence in laryngology clinic than in the general population included singers, teachers, lawyers, scientists, and clergy. Occupations with lower prevalence included maintenance workers, cleaners, bus drivers, repairmen, and computer programmers.

Conclusions:

This study identified several new occupational groups that may be at higher risk of laryngeal pathology because of their relatively higher prevalence in laryngology clinic.