Objectives: To study the clinical characteristics of patients with Bell's palsy.
Material and Methods: A retrospective review of 1,132 medical records of facial palsy diagnosed from January 1997 to December 2001 was performed. We selected 978 cases (910 adult and 68 pediatric cases) in whom Bell's palsy was the final diagnosis for analysis of their clinical characteristics and the correlation among them.
Results: There were 438 (44.8%) male and 540 (55.2%) female cases. The mean age of onset was 44.62 (range 2-87, SD 19.19). No significant differences in mean age of onset between the sexes or prevalence among seasons was found. There was no significant difference between the sides of face involved. There were 42 cases (4.3%) with recurrent episodes in which female patients were significantly more likely to have recurrence (p=.005). Either side of face could be involved in the recurrent episode with nearly equal chance. Primigravidity, the third trimester of gestation and immediate post partum period were the conditions commonly found in pregnancy associated with Bell's palsy. Diabetes mellitus and hypertension were found in 4.9% and 5.7% respectively. No significant association between each clinical characteristic and either disease was established, except for a higher mean age of onset in diabetics, hypertensive and combined groups. There was no significant difference in patients' characteristics between the 68 pediatric cases and the adult group, but chronic otological infection was more commonly found in the former.
Conclusion: There was no significant difference in clinical characteristics between adult and pediatric groups. No predilection for the side of face was found. There was no variability in seasonal prevalence in the involvement of Bell's palsy. No definite association between any clinical characteristic and diabetes mellitus or hypertension was found. For pregnant women, it was commonly found during the third trimester of gestation and immediate post-partum period. The overall recurrence rate was 4.3%. Both sides of the face could be affected in the recurrence similarly.