Impairment and disability in patients with facial neuromuscular dysfunction.

Integration of impairment measures and disability measures may provide clinicians with an accurate and comprehensive picture of the patient's dysfunction. The purpose of this study was to indicate the usefulness of two new scales of measuring facial impairment and disability in describing characteristics of individuals with facial neuromuscular dysfunction. Fifty-one individuals with unilateral facial neuromuscular dysfunction and a House-Brackmann grade of III or higher were included in the study. The subjects' movement impairments were assessed using the Facial Grading System (FGS). The subjects reported their physical and social function on the Facial Disability Index (FDI). Nine variables were subjected to a confirmatory principal-components factor analysis to indicate important factors in describing patients with facial nerve disorders. The confirmatory principal-components factor analysis identified three factors, impairment, disability, and temporal characteristics of disease, accounting for 72% of the variance in describing individuals with facial neuromuscular dysfunction. Integration of these measures may provide clinicians with an accurate and comprehensive picture of the patient's dysfunction, thus aiding in the determination of intervention and the measurement of clinical outcomes.