title: Prevalence of trigeminal neuralgia and persistent idiopathic facial pain: a population-based study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the lifetime prevalence of trigeminal neuralgia (TN) and persistent idiopathic facial pain (PIFP) in a population-based sample in Germany.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 3336 responders of 6000 contacted inhabitants of the city of Essen in Germany were screened using a self-assessment questionnaire. 327 individuals, who reported recurrent facial pain and randomly selected 150 (5% of 3009) screening negative subjects, received a phone interview by one of six neurologists and if necessary a face-to-face examination. Those with suspected TN or PIFP following the phone interview underwent neurological examination by two neurologists who were unaware of the presumed diagnosis. A random group of 25 (10% of 247) phone interview negative subjects was examined face-to-face. All suspected cases of PIFP received otorhinolaryngological examination and diagnostic cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In TN patients the number of vessel-nerve contacts was determined by thin-slice cranial MRI.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Lifetime prevalence of TN was estimated to be 0.3% [10 of 3336; 95% CI 0.1-0.5%], of PIFP 0.03% [1 of 3336; 95% CI < 0.08%]. Thin-slice cranial MRI detected five vessel-nerve contacts and no symptomatic lesions in the 10 TN patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This large population-based study revealed that TN and PIFP are rare facial pain disorders.
authors.affiliation: University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. daniel.mueller@uni-due.de
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mueller
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Obermann
authors.forename: Min-Suk
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Franziska
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Poitz
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: Marc-Andre
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Slomke
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dommes
authors.forename: Elke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gizewski
authors.forename: Hans-Christoph
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Diener
authors.forename: Zaza
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Katsarava
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015897:Comorbidity; D005157:Facial Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D014277:Trigeminal Neuralgia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*