Bell's palsy linked to increased risk of ischemic stroke, finds study

South Korea: Patients with Bell's palsy are at increased risk of ischemic stroke but not of hemorrhagic stroke, suggests a recent study in the journal Auris Nasus Larynx.

Sang-Yeon Lee, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea, and colleagues investigated the association between Bell's palsy and stroke according to the different types of stroke, using a sample cohort based on the national Korean population.

The researchers collected Individuals aged ≥ 20 years from the Korean National Health Insurance Service National Sample Cohort between 2002 and 2013. They then extracted that data for Bell's palsy patients ( n = 3658) and 1:4 matched controls ( n = 14,632). They analyzed the occurrence of hemorrhagic or ischemic stroke in both groups. Matching was done on the basis of income, gender, age, and region of residence. For bell's palsy, only those participants were included who received the diagnosis (ICD-10 code, G510) 2 or more times via ambulatory visits for the same episode with steroid treatment. Occurrences of hemorrhagic stroke (I60, I61, and I62) ischemic stroke (I63) were identified using patient admission histories.