Risk for depression and anxiety in patients with facial palsy based on population-based data from Korea

Abstract

Background

Several studies point out the association of facial palsy with psychiatric distress such as depression and anxiety. However, there have been few studies on this association based on population-based data.

Objectives

To investigate the risk for depression and anxiety disorders in patients with Bell’s palsy and in those with Ramsay Hunt syndrome.

Materials and methods

This retrospective study included data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service National Sample Cohort. From 2006 to 2015, patients with Bell’s palsy and those with Ramsay Hunt syndrome were defined using diagnostic and medication claim codes. Patients with depression or anxiety were defined using diagnostic and medication claim codes. Occurrences of depression and anxiety were included in analyses.

Results

There were significantly higher risks for depressive and anxiety disorders in the group of patients with Bell’s palsy than in the control group, as well as in the group of patients with Ramsay Hunt syndrome than in the control group.

Conclusions and significance

There were significantly higher risks for depression and anxiety in patients with facial palsy including Bell’s palsy and Ramsay Hunt syndrome based on population-based data from Korea.

Chinese Abstract

背景：多项研究表明, 面神经麻痹与抑郁和焦虑等心理障碍有关。 但目前关于这种关联性的基于人群数据的研究还很少。

目的：研究Bell麻痹患者和Ramsay-Hunt综合征患者患抑郁症和焦虑症的风险。

材料和方法：这项回顾性研究包括来自韩国国家健康保险服务国家样本队列的数据。 从 2006 年到 2015 年, Bell麻痹患者和Ramsay-Hunt综合征患者的鉴定是根据诊断和药物应用代码来进行的。分析包括了抑郁和焦虑的发生情况。

结果：Bell麻痹症患者的患抑郁症和焦虑症的风险显著高于对照组, Ramsay-Hunt综合征患者的风险也高于对照组。

结论和意义： 根据韩国基于人群的数据, 面部麻痹患者, 包括Bell麻痹患者和Ramsay-Hunt综合征患者, 抑郁和焦虑的风险显著较高。

Keywords:

• Facial palsy
• Bell’s palsy
• Ramsay Hunt syndrome
• depression
• anxiety
• population-based study

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by a National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital grant [NHIMC 2019-20-009]. The study used a National Health Insurance Service dataset made available by the National Health Insurance Service of Korea [NHIS-2021-2-004].