A new long-term study assessing the association of vaccines with reported cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) found that “most vaccines” were associated with GBS, and that reports of vaccine-associated GBS have been “increasing steadily over time.”
The study, published Oct. 19 in the journal Scientific Reports, part of the Springer Nature family of journals, examined global cases of GBS between 1967 and 2023. The authors found that of the 19 vaccines examined, 17 vaccines — including COVID-19 and influenza vaccines — were potentially associated with GBS.
The findings also showed that reports of vaccine-related GBS surged following the introduction of the swine flu vaccine in 2009 and the COVID-19 vaccine in 2020.
These results prompted the study’s authors to suggest that healthcare professionals “should consider the possibility that vaccines may be a contributing factor in cases of GBS, particularly in older patients, when there is a history of vaccination within the preceding two weeks in a clinical setting.”
GBS is a rare condition that attacks the peripheral nervous system. It can cause sudden numbness and muscle weakness in much of the body. Roughly 1-2 GBS cases per 100,000 people are reported annually.
GBS can be deadly. According to the Cleveland Clinic, “less than 2% of people die from GBS in the acute phase” of the disease, when symptoms are at their peak. But according to the study, the mortality rate for GBS can reach 17% in countries with “limited resources,” according to research published in The Lancet in 2021.
According to the study’s dataset, 117 deaths were reported among the 15,377 cases of vaccine-associated GBS, with 87 deaths (74.6%) occurring in people 65 and over, and two deaths (1.69%) occurring in children 11 or younger.
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