Description:
<jats:sec><jats:title>Purpose</jats:title><jats:p>We investigated whether participants who reported more often occurring vocal symptoms showed higher salivary cortisol levels and if such possible associations were different for men and women.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Method</jats:title><jats:p>The participants (<jats:italic>N</jats:italic>= 170; men<jats:italic>n</jats:italic>= 49, women<jats:italic>n</jats:italic>= 121) consisted of a population-based sample of Finnish twins born between 1961 and 1989. The participants submitted saliva samples for hormone analysis and completed a web questionnaire including questions regarding the occurrence of 6 vocal symptoms during the past 12 months. The data were analyzed using the generalized estimated equations method.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>A composite variable of the vocal symptoms showed a significant positive association with salivary cortisol levels (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic>< .001). Three of the 6 vocal symptoms were significantly associated with the level of cortisol when analyzed separately (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic>values less than .05). The results showed no gender difference regarding the effect of salivary cortisol on vocal symptoms.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title><jats:p>There was a positive association between the occurrence of vocal symptoms and salivary cortisol levels. Participants with higher cortisol levels reported more often occurring vocal symptoms. This could have a connection to the influence of stress on vocal symptoms because stress is a known risk factor of vocal symptoms and salivary cortisol can be seen as a biomarker for stress.</jats:p></jats:sec>