Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32840686›Full record

SynthesisJournal of neurology2021

Guillain-Barré syndrome spectrum associated with COVID-19: an up-to-date systematic review of 73 cases.

Samir Abu-Rumeileh, Ahmed Abdelhak, Matteo Foschi, Hayrettin Tumani, Markus Otto

Open access · hybridAbstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Journal of neurology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 224 papers, 15 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
224citing papers in PubMed, 15 pooled it
32.1field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

224 citing papers in PubMed, 15 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 426 citations in OpenAlex.

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  14. Miller Fisher syndrome associated with COVID-19: an up-to-date systematic review.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2021
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164 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.

Samir Abu-RumeilehDepartment of Neurology, Ulm University Hospital, 89070, Ulm, Germany.
Ahmed AbdelhakDepartment of Neurology, Ulm University Hospital, 89070, Ulm, Germany.
Matteo FoschiNeurology Unit, S. Maria delle Croci Hospital-AUSL Romagna, ambito di Ravenna, 48121, Ravenna, Italy.
Hayrettin TumaniDepartment of Neurology, Ulm University Hospital, 89070, Ulm, Germany.
Markus OttoDepartment of Neurology, Ulm University Hospital, 89070, Ulm, Germany. markus.otto@uni-ulm.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0631-8506
University Hospital Ulm · DEFachklinik für Neurologie Dietenbronn · DEOspedale "Santa Maria delle Croci" di Ravenna · ITUniversity Children's Hospital Tübingen · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Since coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in January 2020, several pieces of evidence suggested an association between the spectrum of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Most findings were reported in the form of case reports or case series, whereas a comprehensive overview is still lacking. We conducted a systematic review and searched for all published cases until July 20th 2020. We included 73 patients reported in 52 publications. A broad age range was affected (mean 55, min 11-max 94 years) with male predominance (68.5%). Most patients showed respiratory and/or systemic symptoms, and developed GBS manifestations after COVID-19. However, asymptomatic cases for COVID-19 were also described. The distributions of clinical variants and electrophysiological subtypes resemble those of classic GBS, with a higher prevalence of the classic sensorimotor form and the acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, although rare variants like Miller Fisher syndrome were also reported. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) albuminocytological dissociation was present in around 71% cases, and CSF SARS-CoV-2 RNA was absent in all tested cases. More than 70% of patients showed a good prognosis, mostly after treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin. Patients with less favorable outcome were associated with a significantly older age in accordance with previous findings regarding both classic GBS and COVID-19. COVID-19-associated GBS seems to share most features of classic post-infectious GBS and possibly the same immune-mediated pathogenetic mechanisms. Nevertheless, more extensive epidemiological studies are needed to clarify these issues.

Indexed as

AdolescentAdultAgedAged, 80 and overChildCOVID-19FemaleGuillain-Barre SyndromeHumansMaleMiddle AgedSARS-CoV-2Young AdultAutoimmuneCoronavirusCOVID-19Guillain–Barré syndromeMiller Fisher syndromeNeuroimmunologyNeurologyPolyradiculopathySARS-CoV-2

Identifiers

PMID32840686
PMCPMC7445716
OpenAlexW3080624977

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.