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The potential association between COVID-19 disease and Guillain-Barré syndrome

ABSTRACT The aim is to investigate the rate of GBS in the pre- and postpandemic period and potential differences in probable COVID-19-associated Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) cases and nonassociated cases. The medical records of individuals older than 18 years who were hospitalized with acute and rapidly developing progressive extremity weakness between March 2019 and March 2021 were analyzed retrospectively, and the rate of GBS 1 year before the first reported COVID-19 case (March 2020) in Turkey and 1 year later was compared. Neurological symptoms, medical histories, and GBS disability scores, as well as the findings of electrophysiological, blood, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) investigations at the time of presentation, were reviewed. The GBS cases were divided into those with confirmed COVID-19 within 6 weeks before the clinical presentation of GBS and those without COVID-19. The rate of COVID-19 was significantly higher in the patients with GBS as an etiological factor. When the probable COVID-19-associated GBS cases and nonassociated cases were compared, there was a significant between-group difference with respect to sedimentation, C-reactive protein, D-dimer, ferritin, albumin, lymphocyte number, mean platelet volume, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, fibrinogen, and lactate dehydrogenase values. In addition, there was a significant between-group difference in admission and discharge disability scores. The GBS rate did not increase after the COVID-19 pandemic, but probable COVID-19-associated GBS significantly affected inflammatory markers and admission-discharge GBS disability scores.