The development and validation of the laryngopharyngeal measure of perceived sensation

Vocal Health Assessment of Professional Performers Returning to the Stage After the COVID-19 Pandemic Shutdown

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS

This study assessed the vocal health of performers returning to full-time performance after the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown and investigated how differences in voice usage, exposure to voice care professionals, and vocal pathology before and during the pandemic contributed to variability in self-perceived and instrumental vocal outcome measures.

STUDY DESIGN

This was a prospective, case-control observational study conducted at a single outpatient site.

METHODS

Twenty-two patients, 11 cases and 11 controls, were enrolled for the study. All participants were full-time singing professionals prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cases were recruited from patients presenting to a tertiary care voice center for vocal or pharyngeal complaints. Controls were healthy volunteers recruited from the general population of professional singers in the surrounding metropolitan area. All participants provided responses to the Voice Handicap Index-10, Evaluation of Ability to Sing Easily, and Laryngopharyngeal Measure of Perceived Sensation validated questionnaires as well as a study survey with questions regarding vocal use and history prior to and during the pandemic. All participants underwent instrumental acoustic and videostroboscopic voice evaluations.

RESULTS

Cases had poorer outcome measures overall and were more likely to report their voices were worse at study enrollment when compared to their prepandemic perception (P = 0.027). Cases tended to be older and less likely to have pursued alternative employment during the pandemic that involved increased speaking voice use (27% vs 55%), but these differences were not statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS

There was a variable response among performers to the prolonged hiatus from performing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those with poorer outcomes tended to be older and may have used their voice less during the pandemic. These findings are consistent with detraining periods in the exercise physiology literature and support the construct of treating vocal performers as vocal athletes.

Readability of Commonly Used Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in Laryngology

OBJECTIVES

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are used to evaluate patients' symptoms and clinical improvement after an intervention. Advocacy efforts and increased provider awareness regarding health literacy have helped to improve the readability of PROMs. Recent studies in otolaryngology in rhinology, pediatric otolaryngology, and head and neck reported PROM readability scores above the sixth-grade level. However, there is limited data regarding the readability of laryngology PROMs. Thus, this study aims to report the readability levels of PROMs in laryngology by assessing different readability indices and describing the relationship of readability levels to equitable healthcare.

METHODS

This is a bibliometric study that received approval from institutional review board (IRB) review as a nonhuman subject research study. Recent and widely utilized laryngology PROMs were selected from a publicly available literature search by reviewing laryngology systematic reviews, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Laryngology PROMs were selected from voice, dysphagia, airway, and other PROMs including voice questionnaires administered to patients seeking gender affirming voice care from systematic reviews and expert opinion. There were 37 PROMs included in this study. PROMs were analyzed via Gunning Fog, Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG), FORCAST, and Flesch Reading Ease Score.

RESULTS

All laryngology PROMs had readabilities above the recommended sixth-grade level. The mean and standard deviation (SD) of Gunning Fog was 7.30 (2.59), SMOG was 8.70 (1.51), FORCAST was 10.05 (1.51), and Flesch Reading Ease Score was 8.08 (2.76).

CONCLUSION

Laryngology PROMs are above the recommended middle school reading level. To further promote health equity, readability should be considered when developing future PROMs.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

N/A Laryngoscope, 2021.

Normative Value for the Laryngopharyngeal Measure of Perceived Sensation

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS

The Laryngopharyngeal Measure of Perceived Sensation (LUMP) is a recently validated patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) aimed at evaluating the symptom severity of patients with globus pharyngeus (GP). The objective of this study was to define the normative values for the LUMP questionnaire.

STUDY DESIGN

Prospectively collected, descriptive research/scale development.

METHODS

The LUMP questionnaire was completed by 88 subjects. Individuals without throat-related symptoms such as dysphagia, dysphonia, or cough were provided LUMP. The results of the eight-item questionnaire were analyzed for standard error of the mean (SEM), mean, and standard deviation (SD).

RESULTS

Review of the 88 LUMP questionnaires elucidated a mean of 0.42 (SEM = 0.10, SD = 0.96) in the normative population. By gender, the female (n = 50) mean was 0.24, SD = 0.66, SEM = 0.09; for males (n = 38), the mean was 0.66, SD = 1.21, SEM = 0.20.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides normative data for the LUMP, a recently established PROM useful in patients with GP. A LUMP score greater than or equal to 3 should be considered abnormal and warrants additional attention.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

3 Laryngoscope, 2021.

The assessment and management of globus pharyngeus

Globus is the sensation of a foreign body in the throat. Investigation and management of patients with globus is widely variable. Most investigations yield negative results yet incur varying patient morbidity and healthcare costs, while malignancy is vanishingly rare in the absence of red flag symptoms and ear, nose and throat examination findings. History taking is key and can help to identify possible causative pathology, directing further investigations and management if necessary. Treatment of globus mainly centres on patient reassurance and counselling, and may include reflux management, neuromodulation, or speech therapy in selected cases, and treatment of any identified cause.

Laryngology Quality of Life Questionnaire Associations: Towards Reducing Survey Burden

OBJECTIVES

Outcomes in laryngology focus primarily on patient reported outcome measures (PROMs). The increasing number of questionnaires may lead to survey fatigue. We sought to determine the relationship between the newest questionnaire, Laryngopharyngeal Universal Measure of Perceived Sensation (LUMP), and other laryngology PROMs.

STUDY DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

METHODS

Patients undergoing laryngology multidisciplinary evaluation prospectively completed laryngology questionnaires. Average summed scores between standard laryngology PROMs (ie, VHI-10, RSI, DI, CSI, EAT-10) and LUMP were compared. Expert consensus panel identified the most clinically relevant statements which were then compared to LUMP summed scores, in increasingly additive fashion.

RESULTS

Four hundred eighty patients (259 female) were assessed. Average age was 57.1 ± 17.7 years. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for each PROM in comparison to LUMP ranged from moderate to poor correlation: 0.64 (RSI), 0.55 (EAT-10), 0.50 (DI), 0.48 (CSI), and 0.34 (VHI-10). ICC for combinations of the five most clinically relevant individual items ranged from 0.29-0.53.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with self-reported globus had statistically significantly higher scores across all PROMs. RSI had moderate correlation with LUMP, and the five selected expert consensus items demonstrated weaker correlation. While RSI may serve as a moderately selective clinical proxy for the LUMP questionnaire, LUMP remains a validated tool with increased specificity for quantification of globus which may be especially important in the research setting. There is continued question about the need for multiple laryngologic PROMs to evaluate patient complaints, and survey reduction remains an area of interest to decrease respondent fatigue, optimize patient care, and quantify interventional success.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

4 Laryngoscope, 131:1561-1565, 2021.