The objective of this study was to determine associations between early variables (requirement for
ventilator support,
anemia, indicators of abnormal peripheral nerve function (proprioception, vibratory, fine touch/pinprick, deep-tendon reflexes, cranial nerve involvement,
dysautonomia, electrodiagnostic findings),
plasmapheresis, age, and gender) and outcome variables (length of acute hospitalization, length of inpatient rehabilitation, Functional Independence Measure (FIM) Rasch converted scores, and acute and rehabilitation charges) in
Guillain Barré Syndrome (GBS). The design of the study was a retrospective case review of 39 GBS admissions (as defined by National Institute of
Neurologic Disorders and
Stroke clinical criteria) to an inpatient rehabilitation unit at a university tertiary care rehabilitation center during a three-year period. The average
length of stay for 39 patients requiring transfer to the inpatient rehabilitation unit (40% of all acute care GBS admissions) was 34 days in acute care and 26 days in rehabilitation. The average adjusted charges for inpatient rehabilitation (1993 dollars) was $31,636.28. Those who required
ventilator support before rehabilitation v those who did not had an admission mean FIM Rasch converted motor score of 26.6 v a score of 38.3 (P = 0.0469), gained only 10.3 points on their FIM Rasch converted motor score v 27.7 points (P = 0.0001), and had a mean acute
length of stay of 66.2 days v 19.3 days (P = 0.0029). Patients requiring
ventilator support were more likely to have
dysautonomia (P = 0.0009). Thirty-one of 39 patients with GBS (79%) had
anemia. No correlation was found between hematocrit or
hemoglobin and motor function recovery as assessed via the Rasch transformed FIM motor scores. There was an association between autonomic dysfunction and an increased acute care
length of stay (P = 0.0325) and total length of
hospital stay (P = 0.0203). Cranial nerve dysfunction resulted in an increase in the acute care
length of stay (P = 0.0266), the total length of
hospital stay (P = 0.0123), and adjusted hospital charges while undergoing inpatient rehabilitation (P = 0.0235). For patients with GBS necessitating admission to inpatient rehabilitation, the requirement of prior
ventilator support most strongly predicts an extended
length of stay for inpatient rehabilitation.