Etiological and epidemiological factors in facial palsy

The present study is an analysis of 243 patients with facial palsy referred to St. Luke's Hospital Malta during the six year period extending from October 1965 to October 1971. The vast majority of the patients' records collected were from the Medical, Pediatric, Orthopedic, E.N.T. and Physiotherapy Departments. The records were analysed with special reference to: onset of symptoms, age, sex, side of palsy, date of referral to hospital, town of origin and referring doctor. A history of hypertension and diabetes mellitus, previous occurrences of facial palsy and any other relevant illness were also recorded. The sex distribution was also compared with that in other series because of the recent Egyptian reports of facial palsy developing more often in females. The age groups of the Maltese patients were also analysed and compared with those in some other studies. Following this study, it was concluded that probably there were no significant geographical variations. In the older age groups, however, atherosclerosis, diabetes and hypertension are postulated as aggravating factors. Underlying diabetes and hypertension should, therefore, be excluded in patients with Bell's Palsy, all the more so, because of the increased risks, if such patients are treated with steroids.peer-reviewe

HLA-DRB1 and multiple sclerosis in Malta

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: By comparison with the neighboring island of Sicily, the frequency of multiple sclerosis (MS) in Malta is remarkably low. METHODS: To explore whether the relative rarity of MS in Malta might be the result of lower population frequencies of major histocompatibility complex susceptibility alleles, we genotyped the HLA-DRB1 locus in 77 Maltese-born patients (97% of the prevalent unrelated native cases) and 206 Maltese controls. We made comparisons with previously published data for Sicily and other European countries. RESULTS: The anticipated association with HLA-DRB1*15, the main susceptibility allele in most other populations, was confirmed (pc = 0.009) but, in addition, we also observed an equally strong, and apparently protective, effect of the HLA-DRB1*11 allele (pc = 0.016). In comparison with previously published data from Sicily, we found that all HLA-DRB1 risk alleles were more common in Malta, whereas HLA-DRB1*11 was slightly less common. CONCLUSIONS: The difference in prevalence seen between the neighboring islands of Malta and Sicily cannot be explained by differences in background HLA-DRB1 population allele frequencies, which if anything would predict a higher rate of disease in Malta than in Sicily.status: publishe