Bell's Palsy in Pregnancy and Pre-eclampsia: Is There An Association?

While the diagnosis of Bell’s Palsy (BP) in the general population is rare, previous research has demonstrated a higher rate of diagnosis in the third trimester of pregnancy. Prior retrospective studies and case reports have been published noting a relationship between BP and pre-eclampsia, however studies have been limited by small sample sizes due to the rare nature of BP. The objective of this study was to determine if women with BP and live births were diagnosed with pre-eclampsia more frequently when compared to women with a live birth without BP. We conducted an enterprise wide, multi-center, retrospective case-control study of women who delivered between January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2019. Women who had a diagnosis of Bell’s Palsy and a live delivery were compared to a control group of women with a live delivery without the diagnosis of Bell’s Palsy during the study period. Baseline demographics and comorbid conditions between groups were collected by using ICD-10 codes, including any type of pre-eclampsia. Penalized profile-likelihood logistical regression was used to statistically analyze the association. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered significant. Of the 719 women included in the analysis with a diagnosis of live birth during the study period, 239 cases (33.52%) met inclusion criterion and were matched with 474 controls (66.48%). Of the 239 cases, 45 (18.83%) had a concurrent diagnosis of pre-eclampsia, whereas 28 (5.91%) of the control population had a concurrent diagnosis of pre-eclampsia. Controlling for various covariates (including age, diabetes, and multi-gestation pregnancies), the odds having a diagnosis of pre-eclampsia were significantly increased in Bell’s Palsy patients when compared to the control group (OR 3.77, p< 0.01, CI [2.00, 7.3]). We found that pre-eclampsia was diagnosed more frequently in women with Bell’s Palsy during pregnancy when compared to women without BP in pregnancy. Given the findings, occurrence of BP during pregnancy should be acknowledged as a potential sign of pre-eclampsia, although more studies are needed.View Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download (PPT)