Prognostic role of homeostasis model assessment and oral glucose tolerance test in nondiabetic patients with Bell’s palsy

BACKGROUND/AIM: We aimed to reveal the incidence and predictive role of insulin resistance and distorted oral glucose tolerance test in nondiabetic patients with Bell’s Palsy (BP). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty-six patients with BP and 28 control subjects; all with normal blood glucose levels and no history of diabetes, were enrolled in the study. We investigated insulin resistance (IR) in all subjects, in terms of HOMA-IR greater than 2.7. Sixty-two of the patients also underwent an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). RESULTS: The mean HOMA-IR value was significantly increased in patients, compared to the control group (3.2 vs 1.6; P < 0.01). IR was detected more in BP patients than in controls (P < 0.05). The patients with higher HOMA-IR values had more severe facial dysfunction at the initial presentation and complete recovery time took longer than the patients with normal HOMA-IR value (75 days vs 42 days; P < 0.05). Following a 2h-OGTT, impaired glucose tolerance and newly diagnosed DM were found in 60% of the patients. Recovery time was significantly longer in prediabetics and newly diagnosed diabetic patients than in patients with normal glycemia (68 days, 52 days, and 32 days, respectively; P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: There is a strong linkage between HOMA-IR value and BP prognosis so HOMA-IR value may have a significant role of predicting BP prognosis at presentation.