PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Millions with voice problems don't know treatment available

2010-09-20
(Press-News.org) DURHAM, N.C.—Two-thirds of Americans with voice problems don't seek medical care either because they don't know treatment is available or because they think the problem will just go away, according to a new study conducted at the Duke Voice Care Center.

That's concerning, says Seth Cohen, MD, an otolaryngologist at Duke. "Voice disorders aren't benign nuisances that just go away. They are symptoms of a range of medical conditions from allergies to cancer. When caught early, the right treatment can make a big difference. Left untreated, they can become chronic problems that previous studies show have a major impact on quality-of-life issues, including an increased risk of depression. This study helps us understand the barriers preventing people from seeking treatment when there is so much at stake."

An estimated 20 million Americans have dysphonia, the clinical umbrella term for a hoarse or raspy voice that can cause pain when speaking and make it difficult to communicate effectively. Previous data link dysphonia to decreased work productivity and social isolation. Patients also incur financial burdens including rising health care costs. Overall, economic losses have been estimated in the billions.

"Dysphonia affects everyone at every age," says Cohen, author of the study that appears online in the journal Laryngoscope. "You don't have to have a vocally demanding job to suffer."

There's a host of conditions that lead to dysphonia, including tobacco, alcohol and caffeine use, certain medications, voice overuse/misuse, hearing loss, dry mouth and reflux. Dysphonia can also be sign of something more serious, like asthma, lung disease, Parkinson's or laryngneal cancer.

"You have no idea what is causing the problem or what the appropriate treatment should be until an evaluation is performed," says Cohen. That requires the use of a laryngoscope that threads a camera down the throat so doctors can determine the medical cause.

Few dysphonia patients go that route.

In the Duke study of 789 patients in a primary care network, nearly 30 percent (29.1 percent) had dysphonia at least once in their lifetime; 4.3 percent had it for more four weeks. More than half (54 percent) of those with current dysphonia had missed at least one day of work as a result of their condition. More than three-quarters (77.9 percent) of patients who had dysphonia more than once had never received treatment.

When asked why they didn't seek treatment:

30.4 percent did not know options for treatments were available; 33.3 percent thought the problem would go away on its own; 26.1 percent didn't seek care because their physician didn't asked about vocal problems; 14.5 percent thought dysphonia was due to aging; 7.2 percent cited expense and insurance coverage; 4.3 percent cited travel limitations.

Cohen says it's important for patients to understand that vocal disorders can get progressively worse when left alone.

"Patients who don't seek treatment get caught in a vicious cycle. As the problem becomes more chronic, patients seem to be accepting it, but that won't make the situation better," he says.

Rather than take vocal disorders for granted, Cohen stresses, "Patients need to become better advocates for their own health. They should talk to their doctor so they can get appropriately evaluated and a personalized treatment plan can be developed."

INFORMATION: This study was funded by the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery Foundation Health. The authors report no conflicts of interest.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

New pathway regulates immune balance and offers promising drug development target

2010-09-20
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have identified a new pathway that helps control the immune balance through reciprocal regulation of specialized T lymphocytes, which play very different inflammatory roles. Investigators also determined that two drugs working in different ways to dampen the inflammatory response in patients with multiple sclerosis or following organ transplantation target this new mechanism. Further research into the pathway might lead to new medications to block other autoimmune disorders or to new anti-rejection drugs, researchers said. ...

USC lab releases smartphone app that measures particulate air pollution

USC lab releases smartphone app that measures particulate air pollution
2010-09-20
University of Southern California computer scientists have found a way to combine smartphone resources with a novel application that allows the phones' users to help monitor air quality. The application, provisionally titled "Visibility," is available for download at http://robotics.usc.edu/~mobilesensing/Projects/AirVisibilityMonitoring The researchers, from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, hope that as many users as possible download and try it in order to improve the software. Currently, the download works for smartphones running the Android system and soon ...

Mayo-led researchers discover genetic variants modifying breast cancer risk

2010-09-20
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Individuals with disrupting mutations in the BRCA1 gene are known to be at substantially increased risk of breast cancer throughout their lives. Now, discoveries from an international research team led by Mayo Clinic researchers show that some of those persons may possess additional genetic variants that modify their risk. These new findings enhancing individualized medicine appear in the current Nature Genetics. "These findings should be useful in helping determine individual risk for breast cancer in BRCA1 carriers," says Fergus Couch, Ph.D., Mayo ...

4 possible risk factors for ovarian cancer found

2010-09-20
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A consortium of cancer researchers has identified four chromosome locations with genetic changes that are likely to alter a woman's risk of developing ovarian cancer. The findings appear in Nature Genetics in an article authored by a Mayo Clinic researcher. Researchers say that while more needs to be learned about the function of the specific chromosomal regions involved in susceptibility, the discoveries move them a major step closer to individualized risk assessments for ovarian cancer. In the future, women at greatest risk due to these and other ...

Technology in the extreme

2010-09-20
Radio transmitters that can withstand temperatures of up to 900 oC could soon be dropped into the depths of the earth to provide early warning of a volcanic eruption. The state-of-the-art technology being pioneered by experts at Newcastle University uses Silicon Carbide electronics that can withstand temperatures equal to the inside of a jet engine. Measuring subtle changes in the levels of key volcanic gases such as carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide, the wireless sensor would feed back real-time data to the surface, providing vital information about volcanic activity ...

2 studies find new genetic links to ovarian cancer risk

2010-09-20
DURHAM, N.C. – An international consortium of scientists has discovered new genetic variants in five regions of the genome that affect the risk of ovarian cancer in the general population, according to two separate studies published today (Sunday), online in Nature Genetics. The consortium, including scientists from the U.S., Europe, Canada and Australia, based the new work on their earlier research comparing 10,283 women with ovarian cancer to 13,185 women without the disease. That effort had found a stretch of DNA on chromosome 9 containing single DNA letter variations ...

Possible alternate therapy for adults with poorly controlled asthma

2010-09-20
A drug commonly used for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) successfully treats adults whose asthma is not well-controlled on low doses of inhaled corticosteroids, reported researchers supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health. "This study's results show that tiotropium bromide might provide an alternative to other asthma treatments, expanding options available to patients for controlling their asthma," said NHLBI Acting Director Susan B. Shurin, M.D. "The goal in managing ...

Biologists discover biochemical link between biological clock and diabetes

2010-09-20
Biologists have found that a key protein that regulates the biological clocks of mammals also regulates glucose production in the liver and that altering the levels of this protein can improve the health of diabetic mice. Their discovery, detailed in this week's advanced online publication of the journal Nature Medicine, provides an entirely new biochemical approach for scientists to develop treatments for obesity and type 2 diabetes. It also raises the interesting possibility that some of the rise in diabetes in the U.S. and other major industrialized countries could ...

Rutgers researchers discover how HIV resists AZT

2010-09-20
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Rutgers researchers have discovered how HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS, resists AZT, a drug widely used to treat AIDS. The scientists, who report their findings in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, believe their discovery helps researchers understand how important anti-AIDS treatments can fail and could help AIDS researchers develop more effective treatment for the disease. "What we've found is the detailed way in which the mutations act to promote the resistance," said author Eddy Arnold, Board of Governors Professor of Chemistry and ...

Childhood viral infection may be a cause of obesity

Childhood viral infection may be a cause of obesity
2010-09-20
The emerging idea that obesity may have an infectious origin gets new support in a cross-sectional study by University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers who found that children exposed to a particular strain of adenovirus were significantly more likely to be obese. The study will be published in the September 20 online edition of the journal Pediatrics. September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. Jeffrey B. Schwimmer, MD, associate professor of clinical pediatrics at UC San Diego, and colleagues examined 124 children, ages 8 to 18, ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

CMD-OPT model enables the discovery of a potent and selective RIPK2 inhibitor as preclinical candidate for the treatment of acute liver injury

Melatonin receptor 1a alleviates sleep fragmentation-aggravated testicular injury in T2DM by suppression of TAB1/TAK1 complex through FGFR1

Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals Shen-Bai-Jie-Du decoction retards colorectal tumorigenesis by regulating the TMEM131–TNF signaling pathway-mediated differentiation of immunosuppressive dendritic ce

Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B Volume 15, Issue 7 Publishes

New research expands laser technology

Targeted radiation offers promise in patients with metastasized small cell lung cancer to the brain

A high clinically translatable strategy to anti-aging using hyaluronic acid and silk fibroin co-crosslinked hydrogels as dermal regenerative fillers

Mount Sinai researchers uncover differences in how males and females change their mind when reflecting on past mistakes

CTE and normal aging are difficult to distinguish, new study finds

Molecular arms race: How the genome defends itself against internal enemies

Tiny chip speeds up antibody mapping for faster vaccine design

KTU experts reveal why cultural heritage is important for community unity

More misfolded proteins than previously known may contribute to Alzheimer’s and dementia

“Too much going on”: Autistic adults overwhelmed by non-verbal social cues

What’s driving America’s deep freezes in a warming world?

A key role of brain protein in learning and memory is deciphered by scientists

Heart attacks don’t follow a Hollywood script

Erin M. Schuman wins 2026 Nakasone Award for discovery on neural synapse function and change during formation of memories

Global ocean analysis could replace costly in-situ sound speed profiles in seafloor positioning, study finds

Power in numbers: Small group professional coaching reduces rates of physician burnout by nearly 30%

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage: A comprehensive review of CCUS-EOR

New high-temperature stable dispersed particle gel for enhanced profile control in CCUS applications

State gun laws and firearm-related homicides and suicides

Use of tobacco and cannabis following state-level cannabis legalization

Long-term obesity and biological aging in young adults

Eindhoven University of Technology and JMIR Publications announce unlimited open access publishing agreement

Orphan nuclear receptors in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease development

A technological breakthrough for ultra-fast and greener AI

Pusan National University researchers identify key barriers hindering data-driven smart manufacturing adoption

Inking heterometallic nanosheets: A scalable breakthrough for coating, electronics, and electrocatalyst applications

[Press-News.org] Millions with voice problems don't know treatment available