Inpatient treatment of patients with acute idiopathic peripheral facial palsy: A population-based healthcare research study.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the inpatient management for patients with acute idiopathic facial palsy (IFP) in Thuringia, Germany.

DESIGN: Population-based study.

SETTING: All inpatients with IFP in all hospitals with departments of otolaryngology and neurology in 2012, in the German federal state, Thuringia.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Patients' characteristics and treatment were compared between departments, and the probability of recovery was tested.

RESULTS: A total of 291 patients were mainly treated in departments of otolaryngology (55%) and neurology (36%). Corticosteroid treatment was the predominant therapy (84.5%). The probability to receive a facial nerve grading (odds ratio [OR=12.939; 95% confidence interval [CI]=3.599 to 46.516), gustatory testing (OR=6.878; CI=1.064 to 44.474) and audiometry (OR=32.505; CI=1.485 to 711.257) was significantly higher in otolaryngology departments, but lower for cranial CT (OR=0.192; CI=0.061 to 0.602), cerebrospinal fluid examination (OR=0.024; CI=0.006 to 0.102). A total of 131 patients (45%) showed a recovery to House-Brackmann grade≤II. A pathological stapedial reflex test (Hazard ratio [HR]=0.416; CI=0.180 to 0.959) was the only independent diagnostic predictor of worse outcome. Prednisolone dose >500 mg (HR=0.579; CI 0.400 to 0.838) and no adjuvant physiotherapy (HR=0.568; CI=0.407 to 0.794) were treatment-related predictors of worse outcome.

CONCLUSIONS: Inpatient treatment of IFP seems to be highly variable in daily practice, partly depending on the treating discipline and despite the availability of evidence-based guidelines. The population-based recovery rate was worse than reported in clinical trials.