Quality of life in Bell´s palsy patients

The quality of life of 30 Bell´s palsy patients was compared to that of 30 paired controls without palsy. The Health Survey Short Form 36 (SF-36) was used to evaluate the quality of life, and the House Brackmann Scale was used to evaluate facial paralysis severity. Participants were also asked about their gender, age, the affected side of the face, and time since the onset of the illness. Wilcoxon test was used to compare the quality of life between patients and paired controls. Results showed significant differences in role-physical (p = .002) and social functioning (p = .002) scales between the two groups. A Spearman’s correlation rank test showed that the same two scales of the SF-36 improved in time as the facial paralysis severity diminished (p = .000 and p = .003, respectively). The Mann-Whitney U test showed a lower score in general health scale in patients with right side affected of the face (p = -024). No statistical significant differences were found due to gender, age, or time since the onset of the illness.