Risk of cancer in patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS): A population-based study

The possible relationship between Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and cancer is still controversial and the existence of a paraneoplastic GBS remains unconfirmed. To better define whether there is a relationship between GBS and malignancy, we compared the observed and the expected number of patients w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of neurology 2004-03, Vol.251 (3), p.321-326
Main Authors: VIGLIANI, Maria-Claudia, MAGISTRELLO, Michela, POLO, Patrizia, MUTANI, Roberto, CHIO, Adriano
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Biological and medical sciences
Confidence Intervals
Female
Guillain-Barre Syndrome - complications
Guillain-Barre Syndrome - epidemiology
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Neoplasms - epidemiology
Neoplasms - etiology
Neurology
Odds Ratio
Poisson Distribution
Prospective Studies
Retrospective Studies
Risk Factors
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Summary:The possible relationship between Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and cancer is still controversial and the existence of a paraneoplastic GBS remains unconfirmed. To better define whether there is a relationship between GBS and malignancy, we compared the observed and the expected number of patients with tumours in a population-based cohort of subjects with GBS. Clinical differences between GBS patients with or without malignancies were analysed. Data were obtained from the Piemonte and Valle d'Aosta Register for GBS (PARGBS) (years 1990-1998). GBS was diagnosed according to NINCDS criteria. The number of expected cases of malignancy in the PARGBS population was calculated using the incidence rate of all types of cancer (ICD codes 140-208) in Piemonte [1985-1987], and in the most important town of this region, that is Turin (years 1993-1997). In the nine-year period, 435 incident patients with GBS were found. Nine of them developed cancer in the six months preceding or following GBS; in seven of them, the diagnosis of cancer and GBS was concomitant. The expected number of malignant tumours was 3.7 (using the incidence in Piemonte) and 3.8 (using the incidence in Turin); therefore, the odds ratios were 2.43 (95 % CI, 1.11-4.62) and 2.37 (95% CI, 1.09-4.50), respectively (p
ISSN:0340-5354
1432-1459
DOI:10.1007/s00415-004-0317-3