BALTIMORE — A higher incidence of Bell’s palsy in recent years may be attributed to increasing rates of herpes zoster infection, according to research presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting.

“We wanted to see if the incidence of facial nerve palsy has changed over time. The last time there was a study on this was 1968 to 1982,” Sarah Alshami, study author from the Department of Ophthalmology, Mayo Clinic, said in an interview with Healio.com/OSN.