Guillain-Barre syndrome in Spain, 1985-1997: Epidemiological and public health views

Retrospective demographic information and hospital record data were collect ed for 337 patients resident in Spain who had validated Guillain-Barre synd rome (GBS) diagnoses and clinical onset during the period 1985-1997 and had been admitted to 11 centres, covering a population of 3.9 million. The Eur opean age-adjusted GBS incidence per 100,000 for 1985-1997 among the popula tion aged 20 and over was 0.85, with a breakdown of 1.14 in men and 0.58 in women. Incidence increased with age and time, with occasional rises that m imicked outbreaks and occurred at irregular 2- to 4-year intervals, mainly in winter. Spatial variation was modest. Respiratory and gastrointestinal i nfections respectively constituted 49.3 and 19.3% of recorded preceding eve nts. The 97.5% intercentile limit, obtained from the 1985-1997 monthly inci dences using predictions from a Poisson model, was proposed as the threshol d value for pilot epidemiological surveillance of GBS in 1998-1999. Copyrig ht (C) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel.