Childhood Guillain-Barre syndrome: Clinical and electrophysiologic features predictive of outcome

The hospital records of 27 children with the diagnosis of Guillain-Barre sy ndrome were retrospectively reviewed. Based on the time to recovery, patien ts were divided into two groups: group 1 consisted of children whose times to complete or partial recovery extended beyond 2 months from onset of the disease; group 2 consisted of children who attained a full recovery within 2 months from onset of the disease. The clinical and electrophysiologic fea tures of the two groups were statistically compared for their predictive va lue of outcome. Three clinical features (maximum disability score at presen tation, intubation, and cranial nerve involvement) were predictive of poor outcome, whereas one electrophysiologic feature (conduction block) was pred ictive of favorable outcome. There was also a significant correlation betwe en maximum disability score at presentation and the probability of intubati on.