Epidemiology of childhood Guillan-Barre syndrome in the north west of Iran.
OBJECTIVE
This study was carried out to investigate the incidence, annual time trend and some epidemiological and clinical features of Guillain-Barre syndrome in children in the north west of Iran.


METHODS
In this population-based cross sectional research, epidemiological and clinical features of 143 cases with Guillain-Barre syndrome between 2001 and 2006 were studied. The setting of the study was Tabriz Children Medical Centre, the major University-Hospital located in Tabriz city of the East Azarbaijan province covering whole region. Data collected included age, gender, chronological information, preceding events, functional grade of motor deficit.


RESULTS
The mean age (standard deviation) of subjects was 5.4 (3.6) years. The male/female ratio was 1.3. The average annual incidence rate was 2.27 per 100 000 population of 15 years children (CI95%: 1.9-2.6). The majority of cases occurred in March, July and November and the highest proportion of the syndrome was observed in winter (29 percent, P > 0.10).


CONCLUSIONS
The results indicated that an unexpected high incidence of Guillain-Barre syndrome has occurred in 2003 in the region. We concluded that a monitoring and surveillance system for Guillain-Barre syndrome is essential to set up in this region.
Department of Pediatrics, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran. mm_barzegar@yahoo.com <mm_barzegar@yahoo.com>
Mohammad
M
Barzegar
Saeed
S
Dastgiri
Mohammad H
MH
Karegarmaher
Ali
A
Varshochiani
D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D017668:Age of Onset; D002169:Campylobacter Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003081:Cold Climate / Q000009:adverse effects; D015897:Comorbidity / Q000639:trends; D003389:Cranial Nerve Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D020275:Guillain-Barre Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D010292:Paresthesia / Q000453:epidemiology; D017933:Peripheral Nervous System / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D017678:Sex Distribution