Prevalence and outcomes of Guillain-Barré syndrome among pediatrics in Saudi Arabia: a 10-year retrospective study

Asiri, Safiyyah; Altwaijri, Waleed A; Ba-Armah, Duaa; Al Rumayyan, Ahmed; Alrifai, Muhammad T; Salam, Mahmoud; Almutairi, Adel F

Axonal forms of GBS exhibit worse prognosis and slower recovery compared to demyelination forms of GBS. 16 It is worth mentioning that the prognosis of GBS is better among pediatrics, 18 as good outcomes have been observed in 61%-71% of cases. 19 In one prospective study, 96% of children were either asymptomatic or had minor residual symptoms during the recovery phase. 10 GBS in Saudi Arabia (the largest populated country in the Arab Gulf region) has been seldom investigated, especially among the pediatric population, which leaves both clinicians and researchers with scarcity in knowledge. A systematic review of GBS in 2014 described the findings of three studies conducted in Saudi Arabia, two of which were outdated (published in 1991 and 1994) while the third was a 6-year, single-center study published in 2009 with a very small sample size (n=12). 3 The Saudi population resides in harsh desert climates with extreme temperatures, so epidemics of infections are pretty rare in Saudi Arabia, although a serious outbreak of Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome coronavirus has been recorded recently. GBS can be triggered by certain viral or bacterial infections, which might be more prevalent in certain countries than others. GBS is also a rare disease, especially among the pediatric population. Signs and symptoms of GBS usually aid clinicians in classifying the type of GBS, yet these clinical manifestations might overlap between one type and another. This has led some clinicians to report newly classified types or variants of GBS. 20 Therefore, reporting the prevalence and outcomes of even a few cases of GBS will provide better insights into the care and management of GBS.