title: The clinical characteristics and short-term prognosis in elderly patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome.
abstract: To investigate the clinical characteristics and short-term prognosis of elderly patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS).We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of adult GBS. According to the age, the enrolled subjects were divided into 2 groups, that is, patients ≥60 years (elderly group) and those aged 18 to 59 years (nonelderly group). The clinical characteristics and short-term prognosis of the patients in the 2 groups were compared.In total, 535 patients were enrolled. There were 67 patients fell into the elderly group with a mean age of 69 years old; while 468 patients fell into the nonelderly group with a mean age of 39 years old. We found that the elderly patients had significantly lower incidence of antecedent infections (49.3% vs 66.2%, P < 0.01). The time from onset to admission (5 vs 4 days, P < 0.05) and time from onset to nadir (7 vs 6 days, P < 0.05) were significantly longer in the elderly patients. It was noteworthy that more elderly patients were found with lymphocytopenia (55.4% vs 37.3%, P < 0.01), hyponatremia (25.0% vs 10.2%, P < 0.01), hypoalbuminemia (9.0% vs 2.6%, P < 0.05), and hyperglycemia (34.3% vs 15.2%, P < 0.01). Importantly, the elderly patients had longer duration of hospitalization (17 vs 14 days, P < 0.05), higher incidence of pneumonia (29.9% vs 18.8%, P < 0.05), and poorer short-term prognosis (58.2% vs 42.7%, P < 0.05). In patients with severe GBS, no significant differences were observed in disease severity, treatment modality, incidence of pneumonia, and duration of hospitalization between the 2 groups. However, more patients in the elderly group showed poor short-term prognosis (84.1% vs 63.8%, P < 0.01). Further, old age (≥60 years) (OR = 2.906, 95% CI: 1.174-7.194, P < 0.05) and lower Medical Research Council (MRC) score at nadir (OR = 0.948, 95% CI: 0.927-0.969, P < 0.01) were risk factors for poor short-term prognosis in severe GBS patients.The clinical characteristics and short-term prognosis of elderly patients with GBS are distinct from nonelderly adults. Old age (≥60 years) and lower nadir MRC score serve as predictor for poor short-term prognosis in severe GBS patients.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Center, Department of Neurology, the First Hospital of Jilin University, Jilin University, Changchun, China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiujuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Donghui
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Chunrong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: Hong-Liang
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Kangding
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D020275:Guillain-Barre Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009460:Neurologic Examination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D062072:Patient Acuity; D011379:Prognosis; D012107:Research Design