Prevalence, Etiology, Risk Factors, and Complications of Facial Nerve Palsy at King Abdulaziz Medical City: A Multicenter Study.

Abstract

Facial nerve palsyis a condition of nerve damagethatresultsinimpairedfacial movementon one or both sides of the face. This multicenter study aimed to determine the prevalence of facial nerve palsy andevaluate the association between its risk factors and complications to identifyitsetiology among patientsadmitted to King Abdulaziz Medical City in Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, between2016and2023. A retrospectivecross-sectional study was conducted toobtaindata from medical records usingthebest care system for patientswith facial nerve palsy.Data were analyzedusing IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 20.0 (Released 2011; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States),Chi-square test,t-test,andANOVA.The level of statistical significance was set atp<0.05. The study involved 123 patients,with 0.0164% prevalence. Bell's palsy was the most common etiology, accounting for 81.8% of cases, followed by head injuries, dental trauma, otitis media, stroke, and head and neck tumors. Obesitywas the most significantrisk factor, followed by upper respiratory problems. Hypertension and diabetesexert similar effects.Facial asymmetry, ophthalmic complications,andeye twitching werethe most commoncomplaints followed byspeech difficulties, psychologicalandsocial effects, mouth twitching, and synkinesis. Facial nerve palsyis common inthis region.We recommend health education sessions to increase public awarenessandprovide preventivestrategiestoreducethecomplications of facial nerve damage.We recommend further research on the association betweentherisk factors and complicationsoffacial nerve palsy.