The impact of tamoxifen treatment on voice parameters in premenopausal women with breast cancer

• Published in: European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology Vol. 281; no. 2; pp. 1025 - 1030
• Main Authors: Ata, Serdar, Ekici, Nur Yücel, Büyükşimşek, Mahmut, Çil, Timuçin, Duman, Berna Bozkurt
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.02.2024
• Subjects: Acoustics; Breast Neoplasms - drug therapy; Estrogens; Female; Head and Neck Surgery; Humans; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Miscellaneous; Neurosurgery; Otorhinolaryngology; Speech Acoustics; Tamoxifen - therapeutic use; Voice; Voice Quality; Premenopausal women; Estrogen; Acoustics; Breast cancer; Tamoxifen; Voice analysis; Objective sound analysis
• ISSN: 0937-4477; 1434-4726
• DOI: 10.1007/s00405-023-08328-8

Objective The study aims to investigate the estrogen-agonistic effects of tamoxifen on voice parameters in premenopausal women diagnosed with breast cancer. Methods A total of 108 premenopausal women were included, segmented into distinct treatment groups and a control group. Objective sound analysis was conducted using robust statistical methods, employing SPSS 25.0 for data analysis. Results The study identified a statistically significant reduction in Jitter values across all treatment groups compared to the control group. No significant changes were observed in other voice quality parameters such as F0, Shimmer, NHR, and HNR. Conclusions The findings suggest that tamoxifen may have an estrogen-agonistic effect on voice quality, thereby potentially influencing future treatment protocols. This research fills a critical void in existing literature and sets the stage for more comprehensive studies that consider affects of hormonal therapies to voice.