Dysphonia post-COVID-19 infection

A literature review

Abstract

The coronavirus causes a systemic disease and individuals manifest different spectrums of symptoms. The cases can be mild and asymptomatic or present more severe symptomatic conditions, such as acute respiratory syndrome and dysphonia, which can be defined as an alteration in oral communication determined by the difficulty in vocal emission. The objective of this work was to carry out a survey of the national and international literature on dysphonia as a symptom of COVID-19 infection, affecting the vocal tract. This is an integrative literature review, with a search in databases with year of publication between 2020 and 2021 that focused on the relationship between dysphonia and COVID-19 in the English language. For the search strategy, a combination of Portuguese and English terms was used: COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 and Dysfonia, Dysfonia and Pós covid, Covid-19 and dysphonia. 10 articles were selected. In the retrospective descriptive observational study by Rochal and Gardenghi (2021) all research participants had vocal alteration, 50% aphonia and 50% had weak loudness, in the study Regan et al (2021) in the initial assessment of vocal quality only 42% had dysphonia based on the GRBAS scale consisting of six parameters: G- general degree of dysphonia; R- roughness; B- breathiness; A- asthenia; S- tension and I- instability. The most common abnormal findings related to dysphonia were paresis/paralysis of the vocal folds, studies hypothesized that the sequelae and vocal symptoms of COVID-19 infection may be a triggering factor for dysphonia/aphonia. Dysphonia was a common clinical manifestation in patients affected by COVID-19, causing vocal alteration. Above all, speech-language assessment and early intervention are essential in the treatment of these patients.