Impact of Facial Palsy on Work Productivity

To evaluate the impact of facial palsy (FP) on patient-reported work productivity.

Adult FP patients with completed survey responses collected between 2023 and 2024 were included. Retrospective chart review was conducted to obtain patient demographics and FP characteristics.

A total of 60 patients were included with a mean age of 51.3 years (range 28-84 years), 73.3% female gender (n = 44), mean Sunnybrook score 63.4 (range 9-97), and mean duration of FP 89.9 months (range 3-701). A total of 40% of patients missed work the week prior to survey completion due to FP. Four (6.7%) patients quit or changed careers due to FP. Females were more likely to miss work than males (p-value 0.035). Patients with facial palsy duration < 60 months were more likely to miss work (p-value 0.021) and missed more work on average at 2.9 h/week (p-value 0.039). On linear regression adjusted for covariates, total SB score (p-value 0.044) and Synkinesis Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) (p-value 0.001) were significant predictors of the effect of facial palsy on the ability to do regular daily activities. Logistic regression analysis to predict the likelihood of missing ≥ 1 h of work over the past week due to facial palsy: older age (OR 1.1; p-value 0.021), female gender (OR 9.7; p-value 0.019) and higher SAQ (1.1; 0.042) were significant predictors (overall model p-value 0.003).

Patients do experience work productivity loss as a result of facial palsy. Female gender and higher SAQ scores increase the likelihood of work productivity loss from FP.