Epidemiology of childhood Guillan-Barre syndrome in the north west of Iran

Background and aims: 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. Materials and 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). Conclusion: 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.