Demographic and clinical characteristics at entry and during disease course
| Control group (1x IVIg) n=199 | Early second IVIg group (2x IVIg) n=20 | Late second IVIg group (2x IVIg) n=18 | P value among three groups* | |
| Demographics | ||||
| Males, n (%) | 109 (55) | 12 (60) | 12 (67) | 0.58 |
| Age, years, median (IQR) | 59 (43–70) | 65 (54–70) | 59 (53–71) | 0.54 |
| Clinical features at entry | ||||
| Time from onset to study entry, days, median (IQR) | 5 (3–8) | 4 (2–8) | 5 (2–8) | 0.68 |
| Time from onset to first IVIg course, days, median (IQR) | 3 (2–6) | 2 (1–3) | 2 (1–5) | 0.11 |
| Antecedent diarrhoea, n (%) | 73 (37) | 4 (20) | 5 (28) | 0.27 |
| Facial weakness, n (%) | 71 (36) | 8 (40) | 9 (50) | 0.47 |
| MRC sum score, median (IQR) | 32 (18–42) | 27 (5–42) | 30 (3–46) | 0.56 |
| Sensory deficits, n (%) | 113 (57) | 13 (65) | 7 (39) | 0.47 |
| GBS variant, n (%) | ||||
| No | 141 (71) | 15 (75) | 12 (67) | 0.85 |
| Pure motor | 46 (23) | 3 (15) | 6 (33) | 0.41 |
| Miller Fisher (overlap) | 10 (5) | 2 (10) | 0 (0) | 0.37 |
| Other | 2 (1) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | † |
| Clinical features after 1 week follow-up | ||||
| MRC sum score, median (IQR) | 25 (8–35) | 10 (0–26) | 6 (1–32) | 0.004‡§ |
| mEGOS, median (IQR) | 10 (8–11) | 11 (9–11) | 10 (8–11) | 0.10 |
| Clinical features at nadir | ||||
| MRC sum score, median (IQR) | 21 (4–33) | 4 (0–20) | 2 (0–16) | <0.001‡§ |
| GBS disability score, n, (%) | ||||
| Unable to run (2) | 1 (1) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0.03‡ |
| Unable to walk independently (3) | 7 (4) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | |
| Bedridden or chairbound (4) | 107 (54) | 4 (20) | 6 (33) | |
| Ventilated (5) | 84 (42) | 16 (80) | 12 (67) | |
| Electrophysiological classification, n (%) | ||||
| Demyelinating | 87/154 (57) | 9/12 (75) | 9/17 (53) | † |
| Axonal | 18/154 (12) | 1/12 (8) | 5/17 (29) | |
| Inexcitable | 8/154 (5) | 0 (0) | 1/17 (6) | |
| Equivocal | 40/154 (26) | 2/12 (17) | 2/17 (12) | |
| Normal | 1/154 (1) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | |
| Time until NCS, days, median (IQR) | 6 (4–10) | 2 (2–10) | 7 (4–9) | 0.52 |
*There were no significant differences between the early and late second IVIg group.
†Not calculated because of small patient numbers.
‡P-value < 0.05 for control group versus early second IVIg group.
§P-value < 0.05 for control group versus late second IVIg group.
GBS, Guillain-Barré syndrome; IVIg, intravenous immunoglobulin; mEGOS, modified Erasmus GBS Outcome Score; MRC, medical research council; NCS, nerve conduction study.