A Swiss study recently reported surgery as a potential risk factor for developing Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). It was sought to establish this in the Finnish adult population.
Persons over 16 years of age who received a diagnosis of GBS in 2004-2013 were identified from the patient register of Turku University Hospital and their patient records were analyzed to identify possible triggers.
A cohort of 69 adult patients with GBS (63.8% men) was identified giving an annual incidence of 1.82/100,000. Of these, four (5.8%) had experienced a surgical procedure during the preceding 6 weeks with a relative risk of 6.28 (95% confidence interval 4.15-9.47, P