epidemiological, clinical and electrodiagnostic findings in childhood guillain-barre syndrome

in order to identify the clinical and electrophysiological characteristics of childhood guillain-barre syndrome (gbs) in east azarbaijan province, clinical and electrophysiological data on 40 consecutive children with gbs, admitted to tabriz children's medical center from march 21st 1999 to march 20th 2002, were analyzed. all patients received intravenous immunoglobulin, 400 mg /kg/ day for five consecutive days. they were prospectively followed up for at least 3 months. analysis of age distribution showed a high occurrence (55%) among children aged 1- 5 years old. male patients outnumbered females with a sex ratio of 1.3: 1. the most frequent antecedent events were upper respiratory tract infections. the study subjects were subclassified according to electrophysiological data: 52.5% were found to have predominantly acute demyelinating neuropathy, 27.5% had acute motor axonal neuropathy and in 20% of patients the demyelinating type of gbs was observed with secondary axonal loss. the disease symptoms were relatively severe in our patients as only 15% of them were able (with and without aid) to walk at the peak of their illness. electrodiagnostic criteria associated with poor outcome were severe reduction in compound muscle action potential (cmap) amplitude and fibrillation potentials (p= 0.034).