Incidence of Guillain–Barré syndrome in South Korea during the early COVID-19 pandemic

Frontiers in Neurology

Neurology

Soo Ahn Chae¹  Junho Hwang¹  Sun Ah Choi²  Byung Chan Lim³ 

[1] Department of Pediatrics, Chung-Ang University Hospital, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea;Department of Pediatrics, Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Ewha Womans University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea;Department of Pediatrics, Seoul National University Children's Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea;

关键词: Guillain-Barré syndrome;    SARS-CoV-2;    COVID-19;    nationwide infection;    Campylobacter;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fneur.2023.1125455

 received in 2022-12-16, accepted in 2023-01-30,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

ObjectivesGuillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) is an immune-mediated polyradiculoneuropathy, often triggered by infection. We aimed to investigate how the incidence of GBS changed in the early stages of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic when nationwide infections declined due to non-pharmaceutical interventions.MethodsWe conducted a nationwide population-based retrospective GBS cohort study using data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service of Korea. Patients with new-onset GBS were defined as those who were first hospitalized between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2020 with an International Classification of Disease, 10th Revision code, for GBS (G61.0) as a primary diagnosis. The incidence of GBS in the pre-pandemic years (2016–2019) was compared with that in the first pandemic year (2020). Nationwide epidemiological data for infections were collected from the national infectious disease surveillance system. A correlation analysis was performed to determine the incidence of GBS and nationwide trends of various infections.ResultsOverall, 3,637 new-onset GBS cases were identified. The age-standardized incidence of GBS in the first pandemic year was 1.10 (95% confidence interval, 1.01–1.19) per 100,000 persons. Compared to the first pandemic year, the incidence of GBS during the pre-pandemic years (1.33–1.68/100,000 persons/year) was significantly higher, with incidence rate ratios of 1.21–1.53 (P < 0.001). Nationwide cases of upper respiratory viral infections were significantly reduced in the first pandemic year; however, Campylobacter infections peaked in the summer of the pandemic. The nationwide epidemiology of parainfluenza virus, enterovirus, and Campylobacter infections correlated positively with GBS incidence.ConclusionThe overall GBS incidence decreased in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be attributed to the dramatic reduction in viral illnesses due to public measures.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Choi, Hwang, Lim and Chae.