Is the С-reactive protein/albumin ratio a prognostic factor in children with peripheral facial paralysis?

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Bells Palsy (BP), accepted as an idiopathic condition and for which inflammation is believed to have a role in the pathogenesis, is a disease characterized by acute unilateral weakness in facial muscles innervated by the facial nerve.
 AIM: This study aimed to examine the relationship between the C-reactive protein/albumin ratio (CAR) and hematological parameters including the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), mean platelet volume (MPV), and red cell distribution width (RDW) in children with BP.
 MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included 65 children diagnosed with idiopathic peripheral facial paralysis and a control group of 49 healthy children. The patients were classified into two groups according to the House-Brackmann (HB) grade at the time of diagnosis, as mild (HB grade 23) and severe (HB grade 45). Patients evaluated as HB grade 1 with normal, healthy, and symmetrical muscle function were not included in the study. The children in the patient group were classified into three groups at the end of a six-month follow-up period as full recovery, partial recovery, and no recovery. The patient and control groups were compared according to the CAR, NLR, PLR, MPV, and RDW values. After treatment, the full recovery and no recovery groups were compared based on the CAR, NLR, PLR, MPV, and RDW values.
 RESULTS: The NLR was found to be significantly higher in the BP patient group than in the control group (p 0.001). There was also a significant difference in the NLR value between the full recovery and no recovery groups. No statistically significant difference was found between the patient and control groups or between the full recovery and no recovery groups in terms of the CAR, PLR, MPV and RDW values.
 CONCLUSIONS: NLR, an easily accessed hematological parameter, may be used as a marker of poor prognosis in pediatric patients with BP. CAR was of no prognostic value in pediatric BP patients.