Epidemiology of typical and atypical craniofacial neuralgias

Neurol Sci. 2005 May:26 Suppl 2:s65-7. doi: 10.1007/s10072-005-0410-0.

Abstract

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) has a prevalence of 0.1-0.2 per thousand and an incidence ranging from about 4-5/100,000/year up to 20/100,000/year after age 60. The female-to-male ratio is about 3:2. A review of several case series shows that pain is more predominant on the right side, but the difference is not statistically significant. TN is significantly associated with arterial hypertension, Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy, glossopharyngeal neuralgia (GN) and multiple sclerosis. GN has an incidence of 0.7/100,000/year and epidemiological studies have shown it to be less severe than previously thought. Post-herpetic neuralgia has a comparable incidence to idiopathic TN. The epidemiology of the central causes of facial pain is still unclear, but it is known that persistent idiopathic facial pain is a widespread, not easily manageable problem.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Age Factors
  • Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease / complications
  • Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease / epidemiology
  • Facial Pain / complications
  • Facial Pain / epidemiology*
  • Female
  • Glossopharyngeal Nerve Diseases / complications
  • Glossopharyngeal Nerve Diseases / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Hypertension / complications
  • Hypertension / epidemiology
  • Male
  • Multiple Sclerosis / complications
  • Multiple Sclerosis / epidemiology
  • Prevalence
  • Sex Factors
  • Trigeminal Neuralgia / complications
  • Trigeminal Neuralgia / epidemiology*