Is permanent congenital facial palsy caused by birth trauma?

OBJECTIVE

To study the relation between traumatic birth and the development of permanent facial palsy in the newborn.

DESIGN

Retrospective case control study of children with 'congenital' facial palsy.

SETTING

Two tertiary referral centres for patients with facial palsy.

SUBJECTS

61 children with established facial palsy.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Odds ratios of recognised factors for birth injury: maternal primiparity, high birth weight, and the use of obstetric forceps at delivery.

RESULTS

13.2% of those studied had forceps assisted delivery compared to 10.2% in the normal population (odds ratio 1.34; 95% confidence intervals 0.61 to 2.97) 39.6% were born to primiparae compared to a national rate of 36.7% (1.13; 0.65 to 1.96) and only 18.9% weighed more than 3500 g at birth (0.37; 0.19 to 0.74).

CONCLUSIONS

There is no association between the development of permanent 'congenital' facial palsy and recognised risk factors for birth injury. These data suggest an intrauterine rather than a traumatic aetiology.