Peripheral facial palsy in children: Serum Borrelia antibodies may reduce the need for lumbar puncture

AIM: We aimed to investigate the causes of acute peripheral facial palsy (PFP) in Danish children and to explore whether neuroborreliosis-related PFP could be diagnosed without lumbar puncture using clinical symptoms and serum Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) antibodies.

METHODS: This retrospective population-based cohort study included children undergoing lumbar puncture for PFP between 2019 and 2023 in Denmark's Capital Region. Diagnostic performance measures for neuroborreliosis-related PFP were compared between serum Bb IgG alone and clinical risk scores combining Bb IgG with clinical parameters.

RESULTS: Of the 326 patients with PFP, 137 (42%) were diagnosed with neuroborreliosis and 151 (46%) had Bell's palsy. Positive predictive value for serum Bb IgG alone was 88% (95% CI 79-93) and negative predictive value was 83% (95% CI 75-88). The positive predictive value of a risk score with seven additional parameters was 90% (95% CI 81-95) and negative predictive value 87% (95% CI 80-92).

CONCLUSION: The positive predictive value of serum Bb IgG alone was high in our setting, where nearly half of children with PFP had neuroborreliosis. In high endemic settings, lumbar punctures may be reduced by (i) treating all children with PFP with doxycycline or (ii) treating Bb IgG positive children and performing lumbar puncture in seronegative children.