ASSOCIATION BETWEEN COVID-19 AND FACIAL PARALYSIS
1Pamukkale Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, KBB Anabilim Dalı, Denizli, Turkey Objective: To evaluate the records of patients who presented to our clinic with acute facial paralysis during the COVID-19 pandemic and to investigate a potential association between the two conditions.Methods: A retrospective analysis was made of the patients who presented to our department with facial paralysis in the 1 year preceding the first positive diagnosis of COVID-19 in this country (Group 1), and those presenting with the same complaint within the 1 year after this date (Group 2). The age, gender, COVID-19 swab test result, House-Brackmann staging and side of facial paralysis, audiogram results, treatment is given, time until improvement and the comorbidities and symptoms additional to facial paralysis of each patient were collected.
Results: Included in the study were a total of 45 and 58 patients who presented with facial paralysis for group 1 and group 2 respectively. Of the patients who presented with acute facial paralysis since the pandemic, five were positive for COVID-19 (8.6%) and three had been in contact with someone positive for COVID-19 (5.1%). No statistically significant differences were found between groups 1 and 2 in the compared parameters. A statistically significant improvement was observed in the staging according to the first and last House-Brackman stages of the patients in both groups (p<0.001).
Conclusion: These results suggest that there is no clear relationship between COVID-19 and acute peripheral facial palsy. We thus conclude that any association between acute peripheral facial paralysis and COVID-19 during the pandemic may be coincidental.
Keywords : Facial paralysis, pandemic, coronavirus