Decreased Incidence of Guillain-Barré Syndrome during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Population-Based Study
| Autor: | Brynhildur Hafsteinsdóttir, Ellen Dalemo, Ólöf Elíasdóttir, Elías Ólafsson, Markus Axelsson |
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| Rok vydání: | 2022 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Neuroepidemiology. 57:1-6 |
| ISSN: | 1423-0208 0251-5350 |
| DOI: | 10.1159/000527726 |
| Popis: | Background: Guillain-Barré syndrome is an immune-mediated acute inflammatory polyneuropathy that is associated with various triggers, including certain infections and vaccines. It has been suggested that both SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination may be triggering factors for Guillain-Barré syndrome, but evidence remains equivocal. Here, we conducted a population-based incidence study of Guillain-Barré syndrome spanning the 3 years immediately prior to and the 2 years during the pandemic. Methods: Cases were identified by searching a regional diagnostic database for the ICD-10 code for Guillain-Barré syndrome. Individuals who fulfilled the Brighton criteria for Guillain-Barré syndrome were included. Information on clinical presentation, laboratory values, and vaccination status were retrieved from medical records. We calculated the incidence immediately prior to and during the pandemic. Results: The Guillain-Barré syndrome incidence rate was 1.35/100,000 person-years for the pre-pandemic period and 0.66/100,000 person-years for the pandemic period (incidence rate ratio: 0.49; p = 0.003). Three cases were temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and 1 case each to the AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines. Conclusions: Our results show that the incidence of Guillain-Barré syndrome decreased during the pandemic. This is most likely due to decreased prevalence of triggering infections due to social restrictions. Our findings do not support a causal relationship between Guillain-Barré syndrome and COVID-19. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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