The Profile of Guillain-Barré Syndrome Before and During COVID-19 Pandemic: A 5-Year Experience

We aimed to evaluate and compare the clinical and electrophysiological features of post-COVID-19 Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and non-COVID-19 GBS patients over the last five years.

We retrospectively analyzed patients diagnosed with GBS between October 2016 and September 2021. They were divided into five groups according to the flu season and the COVID-19 pandemic. Groups 1-4 were identified as non-COVID-19 groups, whereas Group 5 constituted the post-COVID-19 group. At the sixth month the Hughes functional grading scale score (HFGSS) was noted. Clinical and electrophysiological findings were compared between the groups.

Fifty-nine GBS patients were enrolled in this study. Post-COVID-19 GBS patients had more facial diplegia than non-COVID-19 GBS patients. Except for facial diplegia, post-COVID-19 GBS patients did not differ from non-COVID-19 GBS patients regarding the need for mechanical ventilation, loss of ambulation, type of GBS, response to treatment, and patient outcomes. In 67% of post-COVID-19 GBS patients, HFGSS was ≤2. Acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (AIDP) was the most common subtype in post-COVID-19 GBS patients. The 2018-2019 flu season saw more ambulation loss than other flu seasons. The 2017-2018 influenza season had the highest number of patients (39%).

The clinical and electrophysiological features of GBS may differ according to year, infectious etiology, and severity of seasonal viral infections. Post-COVID-19 GBS patients mostly had the AIDP subtype with frequent facial diplegia. The prognosis of post-COVID-19 GBS patients was good. The patients responded well to treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin and plasma exchange.