Spengos Konstantinos, Sameli Sofia, Stouraitis Georgios, Kolias Angelos, Koulouri Olymbia, Kokkinos Zacharias, Makrylou Irini, Tsivgoulis Athanassios, Tsivgoulis Georgios, Vassilopoulos Demitris
University of Athens School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Eginition Hospital, Greece.
Eur Neurol. 2006;55(2):84-8. doi: 10.1159/000092779. Epub 2006 Apr 21.
Epidemiological data on the incidence of Bell's palsy (BP) are conflicting. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the variation of cases of BP acutely presented in the emergency room of our department over a 15-year period (January 1990 to December 2004). We examined the monthly and seasonal distribution of BPs among 36,312 patients who came to our emergency services and compared it with the assumed equal distribution of cases over the year (null hypothesis) using chi(2) techniques. During the observation period 1,252 of all patients (3.45%) presented due to BP. A decline during the summer was observed, in contrast to a peak documented during the autumn and winter. January and July were the months with the highest and lowest frequency of BP, respectively. Statistical analysis revealed a significantly different seasonal (chi(2) = 10.569; d.f. = 3; p = 0.014) and monthly (chi(2) = 25.445; d.f. = 11; p = 0.008) pattern of BP cases. The distribution of cases of BP shows a significant variation with a decline during the summer and an increase during the colder period of the year. A similar pattern has been described for reactivated herpetic ocular infections. Since a similar pathogenetic mechanism is regarded as the main cause of BP, the chronobiological aspects and the influence of meteorological factors on the reactivation of latent infections deserves further prospective evaluation.
贝尔麻痹（BP）发病率的流行病学数据存在冲突。这项回顾性研究的目的是评估在15年期间（1990年1月至2004年12月）急性出现在我院急诊科的BP病例的变化情况。我们检查了36312名前来我院急诊的患者中BP的月度和季节分布情况，并使用卡方检验技术将其与假设的全年病例均匀分布（零假设）进行比较。在观察期内，所有患者中有1252例（3.45%）因BP就诊。观察到夏季BP病例数下降，与之形成对比的是秋季和冬季出现高峰。1月和7月分别是BP出现频率最高和最低的月份。统计分析显示BP病例的季节分布（卡方 = 10.569；自由度 = 3；p = 0.014）和月度分布（卡方 = 25.445；自由度 = 11；p = 0.008）存在显著差异。BP病例的分布呈现出显著变化，夏季下降，一年中较冷时期上升。复发性疱疹性眼部感染也有类似的模式。由于类似的致病机制被认为是BP的主要原因，因此时间生物学方面以及气象因素对潜伏感染再激活的影响值得进一步进行前瞻性评估。
