A retrospective analysis of possible triggers of Guillain–Barre syndrome

• Antecedent infections were the most common trigger of Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS).
• Surgery/trauma may be risk factors, particularly in synergism with other factors, such as infection or ganglioside.
• The proportion of axonal form in post-surgical/traumatic GBS patients was higher than in patients without surgery/trauma.

Antecedent infections have been found to be the most common trigger for Guillain–Barre syndrome (GBS). In the present study, we retrospectively analyzed 36 adult patients with GBS and found that surgery, trauma and treatment with ganglioside were also common before the onset of GBS. The proportion of the axonal subtype of GBS in post-surgical/traumatic patients was higher than that in non-surgical/traumatic patients (P = 0.013) in the present study. In conclusion, this study has shown that prior infection, surgery, trauma and ganglioside may be clinical contributors to the onset of GBS and raised the possibility that they may act synergistically as triggers for the development of GBS.

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