Deltoid muscle strength and autonomic dysfunction as independent risk factors for invasive mechanical ventilation in patients with Guillain–Barré syndrome

Abstract

Background

Almost a third of patients with Guillain–Barré Syndrome (GBS) require mechanical ventilation, increasing mortality by 15–30% and proving poor functional outcomes. The Erasmus GBS Respiratory Insufficiency Score (EGRIS) is the most frequently used scale to assess probability of respiratory insufficiency within the first week of admission. We aim to determine other clinical and electrophysiological prognostic factors for invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) in patients with GBS.

Material and Methods

A cross-sectional ambispective cohort study was carried out in a referral center in Mexico City, from January 2015 to December 2019. Baseline demographics, MRC score, Hughes scale, EGRIS, dysautonomia and nerve conduction studies were performed on admission in GBS patients that required IMV. A multivariable analysis for IMV and a survival analysis for independent walk in prolonged-IMV (>14 days) were performed.

Results

Forty-nine (32%) out of 153 GBS patients required IMV. Statistically significant prognostic factors in multivariable analysis were deltoid muscle strength ≤2 [OR 7.1 (1.6–31.1)], EGRIS [OR 2.5 (1.3–4.6)] and autonomic dysfunction [OR 6.6 (2.0–22.0)]. Electrodecrement <1 mV in the compound muscle action potential (CMAP) of distal motor median nerve was more prevalent in prolonged-IMV patients (44.8% vs. 21%, p = .049). A significant minor prevalence of prolonged-IMV patients regain independent walk at 6 months using the Kaplan–Meier method (log rank test p < .001).

Conclusions

We provide new specific clinical (deltoid muscle strength and autonomic dysfunction) and electrophysiological variables to discriminate GBS patients that will require IMV.

Keywords:

• Guillain–Barré Syndrome
• invasive mechanical ventilation
• prolonged mechanical ventilation
• autonomic dysfunction
• independent walk

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.