Increased risk of Guillain-Barré Syndrome following recent herpes zoster: a population-based study across Taiwan.
BACKGROUND
Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) has been sporadically reported to be associated with herpes zoster reactivation. However, the risk for developing GBS after herpes zoster reactivation remains unknown. This study aimed to establish epidemiological profiles regarding the frequency and risk for GBS following herpes zoster.


METHODS
We extracted 315,595 patients with herpes zoster from a nationwide health registry in Taiwan during the period 2003-2005 and also randomly selected 946,785 matched control subjects. Each participant was individually tracked for 2 months from their index ambulatory care visit to identify those who developed GBS. Stratified Cox proportional hazard regressions were conducted to analyze the difference in the risk of GBS for patients with and without herpes zoster.


RESULTS
Of the sample of 1,262,380 patients, 92 (0.01%) presented with GBS during the 2-month follow-up period, 78 from the study group (0.025% of the herpes zoster patients) and 14 from the comparison group (0.001% of patients without herpes zoster). Regression revealed that the adjusted hazard of GBS during the follow-up period was 18.37 times greater (95% confidence interval, 10.22-33.01 times greater; P < .001) for patients with herpes zoster than for those without. Furthermore, we found that patients who developed GBS after herpes zoster were more likely to have prior infection, compared with the likelihood of herpetic patients who did not develop GBS.


CONCLUSIONS
The risk for GBS is significantly increased among people who have experienced a recent herpes zoster attack, compared with the risk of a matching population.
Kang
Jiunn-Horng
JH
Departments of 1Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and 2Neurology, 3Neuroscience Research Center, and 4School of Health Care Administration, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Sheu
Jau-Jiuan
JJ
Lin
Herng-Ching
HC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D020275:Guillain-Barre Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D006562:Herpes Zoster / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012307:Risk Factors; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult