Clinical Profile, Functional Outcome, and Mortality of Guillain-Barre Syndrome: A Five-Year Tertiary Care Experience from Nepal

Abstract

Introduction. Guillain-Barre syndrome is the most common cause of acute flaccid paralysis in the adult population. It occurs at the rate of 0.34 to 4 per 100000 individuals. This study was conducted to determine the clinicoepidemiological profile and outcome of the patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome. Materials and Methods. We conducted a retrospective study of patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome, presented at B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, a tertiary care centre in eastern Nepal, from January 2013 to December 2017. All patients diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome were included in this study. The handwritten case record files of the study population were retrieved from medical record section of the institute. Results. Of 31 patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome, the mean age of patients was 17±12 years. The most common presenting symptom of study population was ascending paralysis (93.5%). Respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation occurred in 16.1%. The common variants are AIDP and AMAN. Respiratory tract infection (29%) was the most common antecedent event. The in-hospital mortality of Guillain-Barre syndrome was 6.45%. Conclusion. Guillain-Barre syndrome is commonly seen in the young population. The most common symptom of Guillain-Barre syndrome was ascending paralysis. The in-hospital mortality rate of patients with GBS was 6.45%.