Guillain‐Barré syndrome in Larimer County, Colorado

Abstract

During the period 1981-1983, 19 cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) occurred in residents of Larimer County, Colorado, for an incidence of 4.0 cases per 100,000 population per year, compared with 1.2 cases per 100,000 per year in 1975-1980 (p less than 0.05). The higher incidence of GBS in 1981-1983 may represent an unusual chance occurrence, since no patient characteristics or predisposing events could be found to explain the increase. Nevertheless, the findings demonstrate that over a period of as long as 3 years, the crude average annual incidence of GBS in a large, well-defined population may exceed by twofold the upper limit of the previously reported range (0.6 to 1.9 cases per 100,000 per year).

Incidence of the Guillain-Barré Syndrome in Ferrara, Northern Italy, 1981–1987

“…The male excess documented in our series (male/female ratio 1.66/1) as in other reports [3,25,28] was not statistically significant. By comparing adjusted rates, the difference between the sexes is reduced.…”

“…Considering only patients with antecedent infections, the percentage with onset in cold months was even higher (83.3%). Owing to our relatively small pa tient population, the significance of seasonal differences remains uncertain but, on the other hand, most reports, like ours, showed no clear seasonal clustering [10,18,28,32,35].…”

“…The interesting significant outbreak of GBS incidence in Larimer County, United States, in 1981-1983 (4.0 annual cases per 100,000 population) compared with the pre ceding period 1975-1980 (1.2 annual cases per 100,000 population) may represent an unusual chance occurrence as suggested by the authors [28], who did not find any pa tient characteristic or predisposing events to explain the transient high rate.…”

Gastroenteritis-associated Guillain–Barré syndrome on the Caribbean Island Curaçao

“…(7) Mycoplasma pneumoniae NP 197 (9) Values are number of patients from whom information was available (%). Bold type indicates significance.…”

Guillain-Barré Syndrome and Related Disorders

“…There are no genetic factors that are known to predispose individuals to develop GBS, nor is there evidence that GBS is communicable. There have been reports of clusters of cases without an obvious source, but these have been thought to represent random variations [ 7 ] .…”