TY - JOUR
T1 - Increased risk of cancer after Bell's palsy
T2 - A 5-year follow-up study
AU - Sheu, Jau-Jiuan
AU - Keller, Joseph J.
AU - Lin, Herng-Ching
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments This study is based in part on data from the National Health Insurance Research Database provided by the Bureau of National Health Insurance, Department of Health, Taiwan, and managed by the National Health Research Institutes. The interpretations and conclusions contained herein do not represent those of the Bureau of National Health Insurance, Department of Health, or the National Health Research Institutes.
PY - 2012/11
Y1 - 2012/11
N2 - Reactivation of latent herpes simplex virus (HSV) type I or varicella-zoster virus (VZV) has been recognized as the most common pathomechanism underlying Bell's palsy. There is also increased reactivation of HSV or VZV in patients with immunosuppressed states and in cancer patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the risk for cancer during a 5-year follow-up period after diagnosis of Bell's palsy by using a population-based dataset in Taiwan. We used data from the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database. We identified 2,618 patients with Bell's palsy as the study cohort and randomly selected 13,090 patients to be used as a comparison cohort. Cox proportional hazards regression was performed to compare the 5-year risk of subsequent cancer between the study and comparison cohorts. We found that the incidence of cancer was 1.55 (95 % CI 1.35-1.78) per 100 person-years for patients with Bell's palsy and 1.09 (95 % CI 1.02-1.18) per 100 person-years for comparison patients. After censoring cases that died from non-cancer causes during the follow-up period and adjusting for urbanization, monthly income, geographic region, and diabetes, the hazard ratio (HR) for cancer during the 5-year follow-up period for patients with Bell's palsy was 1.43 times that for comparison patients (95 % CI 1.22-1.73). There was a particularly increased risk of oral cancer (HR = 2.49; 95 % CI 1.54-4.03) for patients with Bell's palsy compared with the other patients. We conclude that patients with Bell's palsy were at significant risk of cancer during a 5-year follow-up period after diagnosis.
AB - Reactivation of latent herpes simplex virus (HSV) type I or varicella-zoster virus (VZV) has been recognized as the most common pathomechanism underlying Bell's palsy. There is also increased reactivation of HSV or VZV in patients with immunosuppressed states and in cancer patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the risk for cancer during a 5-year follow-up period after diagnosis of Bell's palsy by using a population-based dataset in Taiwan. We used data from the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database. We identified 2,618 patients with Bell's palsy as the study cohort and randomly selected 13,090 patients to be used as a comparison cohort. Cox proportional hazards regression was performed to compare the 5-year risk of subsequent cancer between the study and comparison cohorts. We found that the incidence of cancer was 1.55 (95 % CI 1.35-1.78) per 100 person-years for patients with Bell's palsy and 1.09 (95 % CI 1.02-1.18) per 100 person-years for comparison patients. After censoring cases that died from non-cancer causes during the follow-up period and adjusting for urbanization, monthly income, geographic region, and diabetes, the hazard ratio (HR) for cancer during the 5-year follow-up period for patients with Bell's palsy was 1.43 times that for comparison patients (95 % CI 1.22-1.73). There was a particularly increased risk of oral cancer (HR = 2.49; 95 % CI 1.54-4.03) for patients with Bell's palsy compared with the other patients. We conclude that patients with Bell's palsy were at significant risk of cancer during a 5-year follow-up period after diagnosis.
KW - Bell's palsy
KW - Cancer
KW - Oral cancer
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U2 - 10.1007/s11060-012-0954-9
DO - 10.1007/s11060-012-0954-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 22890970
AN - SCOPUS:84867845942
SN - 0167-594X
VL - 110
SP - 215
EP - 220
JO - Journal of Neuro-Oncology
JF - Journal of Neuro-Oncology
IS - 2
ER -
