Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Dec 5;9(1):18419.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-54975-5.

The incidence and etiology of sixth cranial nerve palsy in Koreans: A 10-year nationwide cohort study

Eun Hye Jung  1   2 , Seong-Joon Kim  2 , Joo Yeon Lee  3 , Bum-Joo Cho  4
Affiliations

The incidence and etiology of sixth cranial nerve palsy in Koreans: A 10-year nationwide cohort study

Eun Hye Jung et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

We aimed to investigate the incidence, prevalence, and etiology of sixth cranial nerve (CN6) palsy in the general Korean population. The nationally representative dataset of the Korea National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort from 2006 through 2015 was analyzed. The incidence and prevalence of CN6 palsy were estimated in the cohort population, confirming that incident cases of CN6 palsy involved a preceding disease-free period of ≥4 years. The etiologies of CN6 palsy were presumed using comorbidity conditions. Among the 1,108,256 cohort subjects, CN6 palsy developed in 486 patients during the 10-year follow-up. The overall incidence of CN6 palsy was estimated to be 4.66 per 100,000 person-years (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.26-5.08) in the general population. This incidence increased with age, accelerating after 60 years of age and peaking at 70-74 years of age. The mean male-to-female incidence ratio was estimated as 1.41 in the whole population, and the incidence and prevalence of CN6 palsy showed an increasing trend over time in the study period. Surgical incidence for CN6 palsy was only 0.19 per 100,000 person-years (95% CI, 0.12-0.29). The etiologies were presumed to be vascular (56.6%), idiopathic (27.2%), neoplastic (5.6%), and traumatic (4.9%). In conclusion, the incidence of CN6 palsy increases with age, peaking at around 70 years, and shows a mild male predominance in Koreans.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A flowchart of the process to identify newly developed sixth cranial nerve (CN6) palsy.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Incidence of sixth cranial nerve palsy by age group.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Male-to-female ratio for the incidence of sixth cranial nerve palsy.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Annual prevalence (Left) and incidence (Right) of sixth cranial nerve palsy.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Etiologies of sixth cranial nerve palsy by age groups in Koreans.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Elder C, Hainline C, Galetta SL, Balcer LJ, Rucker JC. Isolated Abducens Nerve Palsy: Update on Evaluation and Diagnosis. Current neurology and neuroscience reports. 2016;16:69. doi: 10.1007/s11910-016-0671-4. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Tamhankar MA, et al. Isolated third, fourth, and sixth cranial nerve palsies from presumed microvascular versus other causes: a prospective study. Ophthalmology. 2013;120:2264–2269. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2013.04.009. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Park UC, Kim SJ, Hwang JM, Yu YS. Clinical features and natural history of acquired third, fourth, and sixth cranial nerve palsy. Eye (London, England) 2008;22:691–696. doi: 10.1038/sj.eye.6702720. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Rush JA, Younge BR. Archives of ophthalmology (Chicago, Ill.: 1960) 1981. Paralysis of cranial nerves III, IV, and VI. Cause and prognosis in 1,000 cases; pp. 76–79. - PubMed
    1. Patel SV, Mutyala S, Leske DA, Hodge DO, Holmes JM. Incidence, associations, and evaluation of sixth nerve palsy using a population-based method. Ophthalmology. 2004;111:369–375. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2003.05.024. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms