Introduction There is little published data regarding the long-term outcome of GBS patients admitted to ICU, particularly in the UK.

Methods (1) The Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNARC) database was interrogated for all patients with GBS admitted to ICUs across the UK between 2000 and 2008. (2) Long-term outcome of GBS patients admitted to ICU in our hospital over the same time period was also studied.

Results (1) 1245 of a total of 563 508 admissions to ICU were for GBS (0.2%). 15.2% in-hospital mortality. Mean length of stay (LOS) was 8 days in ICU and 53 days in hospital. Mortality was significantly increased if a patient required ventilation in the first 24 h. Elderly survivors had a much greater LOS. (2) There were 19 GBS admissions to ICU. This cohort is thus likely to represent 1.5% of the total admissions across the country over the study period. Mean ICU stay was 30.7 days; 16 patients required ventilation and two died during the acute admission. Of the survivors average follow-up was 72 months. Preliminary analysis indicates that most survivors achieved a modified Rankin score (mRS) of 3 or better within 2 years of admission; 4 of the deceased patients died later of unrelated causes but initially made a good recovery with mRS of 2 or better.

Conclusions Future outcome studies may be informed by these data which suggest that for most patients improvement plateaus after 2 years.