Gender and Age in Benign Vocal Fold Lesions

This review of 601 patients from the Parker Institute was conducted to discover differences in prevalence of benign vocal fold lesion, between adult men and women, and patients of difference ages. The result - that nodules and pseudocysts are more prevalent in women, and polyps and granulomas are more prevalent in men - is in fact consistent with expectations, but does highlight that phonotrauma, the physical stress on the vocal folds from voice use, affects men and women in very different ways. This is most likely due to well-recognized differences in physiology. These differences are regularly overlooked clinically, as men and women with benign lesions are treated the same.