Neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio as a novel‐potential marker for predicting prognosis of Bell palsy

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Bell palsy can be defined as an idiopathic, acute, facial nerve palsy. Although the pathogenesis of Bell palsy is not fully understood, inflammation seems to play important role. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte (NLR) ratio was defined as a novel potential marker to determine inflammation and it is routinely measured in peripheral blood. Our goal was to investigate the relationship between Bell palsy and inflammation by using NLR. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study. METHODS: The 54 patients who were followed up for Bell palsy for a period of 1 to 3 years, along with 45 age- and sex-matched controls, were included in the study. An automated blood cell counter was used for NLR measurements. All patients were treated with prednisone, 1 mg/kg per day with a progressive dose reduction. Patients were classified according to the House-Brackmann grading system at posttreatment period. Those with House-Brackmann grade I and grade II were regarded as satisfactory recovery; and those with House-Brackmann grade III to grade VI were regarded as nonsatisfactory recovery. RESULTS: The mean NLR and neutrophil values in patients with Bell palsy were significantly higher than in the control group (P=0.001 and P<0.001, respectively). In addition, NLR levels were higher in nonsatisfactory recovered patients compared with satisfactory recovered ones (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: This is the first study investigating the relationship between NLR levels and Bell palsy and its prognosis. Our result suggest that while evaluating Bell palsy patients, NLR might be taken into account as a novel potential marker to predict the patients' prognosis. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3b.