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BACKGROUND: Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is the leading cause of non-polio acute flaccid paralysis worldwide, emphasizing the importance of epidemiological studies on this condition. Therefore, well-designed epidemiological studies in different populations can provide a better understanding of the characteristics of patients with GBS and the nature of the disease. To our knowledge, no previous study has attempted to describe the characteristics of patients with GBS in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) based on disease subtypes and clinical features in both adult and pediatric patients. This study aimed to assess the frequencies of GBS subtypes and their relationships with patient characteristics and clinical data in a tertiary hospital in Jeddah, KSA. METHODS: This was a retrospective review of patients diagnosed with GBS between January 2000 and January 2018 at King Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAUH), a tertiary center in Jeddah, KSA. RESULTS: In total, 47 patients with GBS (median age: seven years for pediatric and 36 years for adult patients) were included in the current study. There were six male and three female pediatric patients and 19 male and 19 female adult patients. Among patients with GBS who were classified into a specific electrophysiological subtype (n = 28), 13 (46.2%) had acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (AIDP), 11 (39%) had an axonal subtype, and four (14%) had Miller Fisher syndrome (MFS). Patients required prolonged hospitalization of approximately 20 ± 22 days (2.83 ± 3.11 weeks). Patients with MFS were more likely to have higher cytoalbuminologic dissociation than those with other subtypes. CONCLUSION: AIDP was the most frequent type of GBS, followed by the axonal type. Patients required prolonged hospitalization of approximately 20 ± 22 days (2.83 ± 3.11 weeks). Patients with MFS were more likely to have higher cytoalbuminologic dissociation than those with other subtypes. GBS type did not show a relationship with ICU admission or mechanical ventilation use. There was no association between specific therapies and different GBS subtypes and no significant difference in outcomes between different patterns of clinical presentation. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) and plasma exchange (PE) treatments both had the same efficacy in relation to outcomes for patients with GBS.
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Background The COVID-19 pandemic has a heavy burden on the approach of diabetic foot care worldwide. We aim to determine the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on patients with diabetic foot (DF). Materials and methods This population-based cohort study included all patients diagnosed with the diabetic foot from 2019-2020 (pre-lockdown) and 2020-2021 (post-lockdown) in a tertiary center of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Results Among all the participants (n=358), a non-significant difference was found between amputation rate during and before the COVID-19 pandemic (P-value=0.0983). Also, it showed a significantly higher percentage of patients who had acute lower limb ischemia compared to those having it before the pandemic (P-value=0.029). Conclusions and relevance In conclusion, our study found that the COVID-19 pandemic was not associated with excess amputations along with mortality rate, as the management during the pandemic showed adequate diabetic foot care by improving the prevention methods through hospital protocol restrictions and facilitating access to virtual clinics.
