Ten years evaluation of epidemiology- and mortality-related factors in adults and children with Guillain-Barré syndrome in the north of Iran

BACKGROUND: Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is the main cause of acute and subacute flaccid paralysis in western nations since the eradication of poliomyelitis. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to investigate epidemiology and mortality characteristics of GBS in the north of Iran. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this study, the hospital information system (HIS) was used to access each patient’s information. The final 174 cases were examined in terms of age, sex, place of residence, the year of referral, the month of referral, the season of referral, client city, accompanying background disease, and the type of GBS. RESULTS: The mean incidence rate in Guilan province was about 0.69 in 100,000 persons, and the case fatality rate was 10.34%. The most reported type of GBS was AIDP (33.90%), and the most common symptom was upper and lower limbs paresis in 65 cases (37%). Respiratory distress (P = < 0.001), complications during hospitalization (P = 0.0001), and ICU requirement (P = 0.001) were significantly higher in dead patients. CONCLUSION: In this study, the incidence of GBS was higher in men than women and the highest number of cases was in the age group of 60 to 75 years. The significant point was the high-case fatality rate in Guilan province compared to the previous studies. The complications during hospitalization such as respiratory distress, ICU requirement, and underlying disease had a significant relation with the fatality of GBS. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10072-021-05562-y.