Neurological conditions in Australia:
Guillain-Barré syndrome in Australia
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Last updated:
Topic: Neurological conditions
Citation
AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2025) Guillain-Barré syndrome in Australia, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 14 June 2026.
This article is part of Neurological conditions in Australia
- Cerebral palsy in Australia
- Epilepsy in Australia
- Functional neurological disorder in Australia
- Guillain-Barré syndrome in Australia This page
- Huntington's disease in Australia
- Migraine and headaches in Australia
- Motor neurone disease in Australia
- Multiple sclerosis in Australia
- Myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome in Australia
- Myasthenia gravis in Australia
- Parkinson's disease in Australia
Guillain-Barré syndrome is an autoimmune condition where the body’s immune system attacks the peripheral nerves that control the skin, muscles and internal organs (Healthdirect 2024). The fatty tissue that protects the nerves (myelin), and sometimes the inner part of the nerve (axon) becomes damaged, leading to delayed or altered signals from the brain to various parts of the body (Better Health Channel 2014).
Symptoms can develop over a few hours or weeks, usually starting as tingling or weakness in the legs before progressing to the upper body and arms. Symptoms can vary from mild to life threatening, with almost total paralysis seen in severe cases (Healthdirect 2024). Other symptoms include:
- movement difficulties (for example, walking or moving eyes/face, muscle weakness, jerky movements)
- numbness
- odd sensations (for example, vibrations, ‘crawling’ under the skin)
- pain
- blurred vision
- difficulty controlling bladder or bowels
- problems with breathing or swallowing
- high or low blood pressure.
The exact cause of Guillain-Barré syndrome is unknown, but in most cases Guillain-Barré syndrome is associated with a person having had a bacterial or viral infection a few days or weeks before the beginning of symptoms. Viral infections or triggers associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome include respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, herpes zoster, glandular fever, viral hepatitis, surgery or insect bites (Better Health Channel 2014).
There is no cure for Guillain-Barré syndrome, but people who are diagnosed with the condition can fully recover with treatment facilitated by a multidisciplinary medical team. Despite this, a small number of patients may have life-long symptoms (Better Health Channel 2014, Healthdirect 2024).
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An estimated 1,200 Australians were living with Guillain-Barré syndrome in 2022
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There were 2,200 hospitalisations due to Guillain-Barré syndrome in 2023–24
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Guillain-Barré syndrome was responsible for $26.9 million of health system expenditure in 2022–23
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Guillain-Barré syndrome was responsible for 390 years of healthy life lost to death or disability in 2024
This report presents both crude and age-standardised rates, where available.
Crude rates are based on unadjusted data and indicate whether there is a difference between populations without accounting for differences in the age structures of the populations.
Age-standardised rates are based on data that are adjusted to account for differences in the age structures of the populations.
Therefore, a difference between 2 populations in crude rates indicates that the rate differs between them. The differences may be due to any number of factors, including different age structures of the populations. In contrast, a difference between 2 populations in age-standardised rates indicates that the rate differs between them but that this difference is not due to different age-structures.
For example, a difference in the prevalence rate between males and females indicates that prevalence differs between them, and this difference in prevalence could be due to any number of risk factors, including age. A difference in the age-standardised prevalence rate between males and females indicates that prevalence differs between them and, furthermore, that this difference in prevalence is not due to age.
For more details about rate calculations see the Technical notes in the Neurological conditions in Australia report.
For interactive visualisations on hospitalisations, emergency department presentations, health-system costs and burden of disease for Guillain-Barré syndrome, see Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 4 and Figure 5, respectively, in the Neurological Conditions in Australia report. Change the toggles in the visualisations from “all neurological conditions” to “Guillain-Barré syndrome”.
For downloadable data tables, see Data section of this article.
How common is Guillain-Barré syndrome in Australia?
The best current estimate of the prevalence of Guillain-Barré syndrome in Australia comes from the Australian Burden of Disease Study (ABDS) (AIHW 2024), which used linked hospitalisations and deaths data (for the methods see AIHW 2021) to estimate the number of people living with the condition in 2022.
In 2022, an estimated 1,200 Australians were living with Guillain-Barré syndrome.
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The prevalence rate (per 100,000 population) of Guillain-Barré syndrome among males was 1.9 times as high as the among females.
Socioeconomic and remoteness areas
The ABDS did not have prevalence estimates disaggregated by socioeconomic or remoteness areas.
Trends over time
There were no estimates for trends over time.
There are 3 main limitations of the methods used by the ABDS 2024 to estimate the prevalence of Guillain-Barré syndrome:
- linked hospitalisations data were from NSW, Vic, SA and Tas and assumed to be representative of Australia as a whole
- person-to-hospitalisations ratios were calculated for all years of admitted hospital data from 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2017, with the assumption that the ratios remained the same for 2022
- some people with Guillain-Barré syndrome may not have been hospitalised and so would not be captured in the method used to estimate prevalence.
Nonetheless, the ABDS 2024 uses Australian data that is relatively recent and thus provides the best current estimate for the prevalence of Guillain-Barré syndrome in Australia.
Based on the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2021 (IHME 2025), there were an estimated 465 Australians living with Guillain-Barré syndrome, equivalent to a rate of 1.8 people per 100,000 population (1.5 people per 100,000 population, age-standardised). Males accounted for 53% of Guillain-Barré syndrome cases in Australia, with a rate of 1.9 per 100,000 males (1.6 per 100,000 males, age-standardised) compared with a rate of 1.7 per 100,000 females (1.4 per 100,000 females, age-standardised).
Based on the GBD 2021, between 2013 and 2021 the rate of Australians living with Guillain-Barré syndrome increased slightly from 1.7 to 1.8 – the age-standardised rate also increased slightly, from 1.46 per 100,000 in 2011 to 1.52 in 2021.
However, estimates from the GBD 2021 have major limitations. A search of the GBD sources tool (for “nonfatal health outcomes”, “Guillain-Barré syndrome” as impairments, and “Australia” as location) shows that the GBD 2021 estimates for Guillain-Barré syndrome used data inputs from 2 Australian sources. These were very old (Hankey 1987 and Storey et al. 1989) and limited to Victorian teaching hospitals and Western Australia. The estimates may therefore not generalise to the current Australian population.
Hospitalisations
Based on the National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD), in 2023–24:
- there were 2,200 hospitalisations (8.2 per 100,000 population, or 7.2 per 100,000 population, age-standardised) with Guillain-Barré syndrome as the principal diagnosis, representing 0.6% of all neurological condition hospitalisations
- males accounted for more than half (56%) of hospitalisations due to Guillain-Barré syndrome (principal diagnosis), equivalent to 9.2 per 100,000 males, compared with 7.1 per 100,000 females – age-standardisation did not remove the sex difference (8.3 and 6.2 hospitalisations per 100,000 for males and females, respectively)
- the median age of people hospitalised for Guillain-Barré syndrome was 61 years (62 for males and 59 for females).
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The average length of stay (in days) for hospitalisations due to Guillain-Barré syndrome (GB) was 4.1 times as long as the average length of stay for hospitalisations due to all neurological condition combined.
Socioeconomic and remoteness areas
In 2023–24, the age-standardised rate of hospitalisations was:
- highest for people living in the highest socioeconomic areas
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The age-standardised rate of hospitalisations (per 100,000 population) was higher for the highest socioeconomic areas, compared with the lowest socioeconomic areas
- highest for Outer regional areas (7.9 hospitalisations per 100,000 population), followed by Major cities (7.3 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) and Inner regional areas and Remote and very remote areas (both with 6.5 hospitalisations per 100,000 population).
Further data tables on socioeconomic and remoteness figures are available for download under the Data section of this article.
Trends over time
Hospitalisation trends only from 2015–16
For hospitalisations, there were some anomalies in the data for 2013–14 and 2014–15 that made the statistics for Guillain-Barré syndrome appear unreliable. For comparisons over time, we therefore only go back to 2015–16.
Between 2015–16 and 2023–24, the rate of hospitalisations due to Guillain-Barré syndrome fluctuated, with a high of 10 hospitalisations per 100,000 in 2015–16 (9.5 per 100,000 population, age-standardised) and a low of 7.5 hospitalisations per 100,000 in 2017–18 (6.9 hospitalisations per 100,000 population, age-standardised), remaining consistently higher for males than for females.
Information on procedures in the National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD) is reported using the Australian Classification of Health Interventions (ACHI) which classifies surgical operations, procedures and other types of interventions performed for the purpose of investigating and/or remedying health state.
In 2023–24, there was a total of 7,900 procedures for hospitalisations with a principal diagnosis of Guillain-Barré syndrome, equating to around 3.6 procedures per hospitalisation. Almost two thirds (63%) of these were general allied health interventions, 13% were administration of blood and blood products and 5.7% were lumbar puncture.
For more information on surgeries and intervention types, see Surgery and other interventions.
Emergency department presentations
Based on the National Non-admitted Patient Emergency Department Care Database (NAPEDC), in 2023–24:
- there were 285 emergency department (ED) presentations due to Guillain-Barré syndrome (principal diagnosis), equivalent to 1.1 per 100,000 population (1.0 per 100,000 population, age-standardised), accounting for 0.2% of all neurological condition ED presentations
- males accounted for more than half (58%) of ED presentations due to Guillain-Barré syndrome, equivalent to 1.2 presentations per 100,000 males, compared with 0.9 presentations per 100,000 females (age-standardisation did not change these rates)
- more than eight tenths of ED presentations due to Guillain-Barré syndrome were admitted to hospital.
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86%
86% of ED presentations due to Guillain-Barré syndrome were admitted to hospital.
Socioeconomic and remoteness areas
In 2023–24, the age-standardised rate of ED presentations was:
- lowest for people living in the highest socioeconomic areas (0.8 presentations per 100,000 population), compared with the other socioeconomic areas which had between 1 and 1.1 presentations per 100,000 population
- lower for people living in Major cities and Inner regional areas (1 presentation per 100,000 population), compared with people living in Outer regional areas (1.4 per 100,000 population) – Remote and very remote areas had too few presentations for reliable age-standardised rates to be calculated.
Further data tables on socioeconomic and remoteness figures are available for download under the Data section of this article.
Trends over time
Between 2018–19 and 2023–24, the rate of ED presentations due to Guillain-Barré syndrome decreased slightly, from 1.3 to 1.1 presentations per 100,000 population (1.3 to 1 presentation per 100,000 population, age-standardised) – for males, this was a change from 1.6 to 1.2 presentations per 100,000 males (1.5 to 1.2 per 100,000 males, age-standardised) and for females, a change from 1 to 0.9 presentations per 100,000 females (crude and age-standardised).
Health-system costs
Note on comparing previous health expenditure reports
The scope of expenditure and methods used in the most recent 2023–24 disease expenditure study (AIHW 2025) are similar to those used in the 2022–23 report however there are changes that have been made that make comparison of data between the 2023–24 report and the 2022–23 report to be done with caution. For more information see the methodology of the Health system spending on disease and injury in Australia 2023–24 report (AIHW 2025).
In 2023–24:
- there were $27.2 million in health-system costs attributed to Guillain-Barré syndrome, accounting for 0.4% of all neurological condition health-system costs
- males accounted for over half (59%) of the health-system costs attributed to Guillain-Barré syndrome
- the leading areas of expenditure were public hospital admitted patient services (69%), private hospital services (13%), public hospital outpatient services (9.7%) and public hospital emergency departments (5.7%).
For more information, see the Health system spending on disease and injury in Australia 2023–24 report (AIHW 2025).
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69%
of the health-system costs attributed to Guillain-Barré syndrome were for public hospital admitted patient services.
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13%
of the health-system costs attributed to Guillain-Barré syndrome were for private hospital services.
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10%
of the health-system costs attributed to Guillain-Barré syndrome were for public hospital outpatient services.
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6%
of the health-system costs attributed to Guillain-Barré syndrome were for public hospital emergency departments.
Socioeconomic and remoteness areas
The Health system spending on disease and injury in Australia 2023–24 report (AIHW 2025) did not include statistics disaggregated by socioeconomic areas.
The rate of health-system costs for migraine was lowest for people living in Very remote areas ($75,400 per 100,000 population) and highest for people living in Remote areas ($115,000 per 100,000 population). The rate for people living in Inner regional areas ($110,000 per 100,000 population) was higher than for people living Outer regional areas ($99,000 per 100,000 population) and Major cities ($91,000 per 100,000 population).
Trends over time
After adjusting for inflation (reported in constant prices), the health-system costs attributed to Guillain-Barré syndrome were almost twice as high in 2023–24 as in 2013–14 ($27.2 million and $14.5 million, respectively).
Burden of disease
Burden of disease is measured using the metric of disability-adjusted life years (DALY, also referred to as total burden). One DALY is one year of healthy life lost due to disease or injury.
DALY caused by living with disease or injury are referred to as non-fatal burden and measured in years lived with disability (YLD). DALY caused by premature death are referred to as fatal burden and measured in years of life lost (YLL).
In 2024:
- Guillain-Barré syndrome was estimated to be responsible for 390 DALY, equivalent to 0.01 DALY per 1,000 population (crude and age-standardised)
- males accounted for almost two thirds (62%) of the total burden attributed to Guillain-Barré syndrome
- people aged 50+ years accounted for the majority of the total burden
- just over half (52%) of the disease burden was fatal (years of life lost, YLL), and 48% was non-fatal burden (years lived with disability, YLD).
For more information, see the Australian Burden of Disease Study (ABDS) 2024 (AIHW 2024).
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85%
of the total burden attributed to Guillain-Barré syndrome was for people aged 50 years and over.
Socioeconomic and remoteness areas
The most recent burden of disease statistics disaggregated by socioeconomic and remoteness areas, at the time of writing this report, are from the ABDS 2018 (AIHW 2021).
In 2018 the age-standardised rate of total disease burden attributed to Guillain-Barré syndrome:
- ranged between 0.01 and 0.02 DALY per 1,000 population across different socioeconomic areas
- was around 0.01 DALY per 1,000 population across different remoteness areas.
Trends over time
From 2003 to 2024, the age-standardised rate of total disease burden stayed around 0.01 and 0.02 DALY per 1,000 population across years.
NDIS and aged care
There were no National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) data for Guillain-Barré syndrome.
Aged care data on Guillain-Barré syndrome is not reported as it is not captured in the available condition codes from the National Aged Care Data Clearinghouse (NACDC). For further information on NACDC codes, see the Data sources section in the Neurological conditions in Australia report.
Mortality
Based on the National Mortality Database (NMD), in 2023 Guillain-Barré syndrome was recorded as the underlying cause of 22 deaths (0.1 deaths per 100,000 population, crude and age-standardised rates were the same), accounting for 0.2% of deaths for which neurological conditions were recorded as the underlying cause, and a further 32 deaths had Guillain-Barré syndrome recorded as an associated cause (0.1 deaths per 100,000 population, crude and age-standardised rates were the same).
Socioeconomic and remoteness areas
The numbers of deaths with Guillain-Barré syndrome as an underlying or associated cause were too few for reporting and meaningful comparisons between different socioeconomic and remoteness areas.
Trends over time
Between 2013 to 2023, the crude mortality rate for Guillain-Barré syndrome (underlying cause) remained stable at around 0.06 to 0.08 deaths per 100,000 population. The numbers of deaths in some years were too low to calculate reliable age-standardised rates.
First Nations people
How common is Guillain-Barré syndrome among First Nations people?
There were no reliable sources to estimate the prevalence of Guillain-Barré syndrome for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people.
Hospitalisations
For First Nations people, based on the National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD), in 2023–24:
- there were 50 hospitalisations due to Guillain-Barré syndrome, equivalent to 4.9 hospitalisations per 100,000 First Nations people
- males accounted for 54% of hospitalisations due to Guillain-Barré syndrome
- the average length of hospital stay was 16 days.
Emergency department presentations
For First Nations people, based on the National Non-admitted Patient Emergency Department Care Database (NAPEDC), there were 10 ED presentations due to Guillain-Barré syndrome in 2023–24.
Health-system costs
The Health system spending on disease and injury in Australia 2023–24 report (AIHW 2025) did not include statistics for First Nations people. AIHW is working to expand the scope of the Health system spending on disease and injury in Australia report in future updates to include spending on First Nations people.
Burden of disease
Burden of disease is measured using the metric of disability-adjusted life years (DALY, also referred to as total burden). One DALY is one year of healthy life lost due to disease or injury.
DALY caused by living with disease or injury are referred to as non-fatal burden and measured in years lived with disability (YLD). DALY caused by premature death are referred to as fatal burden and measured in years of life lost (YLL).
The most recent burden of disease statistics for First Nations people, at the time of publication of this article, are from the ABDS 2018 (AIHW 2022). In 2018, Guillain-Barré syndrome was responsible for 2 DALY amongst First Nations people.
Mortality
The numbers of deaths with Guillain-Barré syndrome as an underlying or associated cause were too few for reporting for First Nations people.
More information and representative organisations
Healthdirect Australia is a nationwide, government supported online service that provides health information, advice and referrals to the community. The healthdirect webpage on Guillain-Barré syndrome includes symptoms, causes, how to get diagnosed, treatments, living with the condition, complications and resources for further support.
Brain Foundation is an independent organisation dedicated to neurological research. Since 1970, they have supported innovative studies into brain disorders, disease and injuries. The website has an index of information on brain disorders including Guillain-Barré syndrome, a list of research projects and a collection of articles, newsletters and fact sheets.
Better health Channel is supported by the Victorian Government to provide health and medical information that is easy to understand, locally relevant, timely, reliable and quality assured. The site provides information on Guillain-Barré syndrome symptoms, causes, how to get diagnosed, treatments, long-term effects of the condition and where to find help.
Data sources
For details about the data sources used in this article, including the condition codes used to extract information about Guillain-Barré syndrome from each source (for example, mortality, hospitalisations et cetera), see the Data sources section in the Neurological conditions in Australia report.
For prevalence, the Australian Burden of Disease Study (ABDS) (AIHW 2022) was used. The ABDS estimated the national prevalence of Guillain-Barré syndrome by calculating the person-to-hospitalisation ratios using linked hospitalisations and deaths data from the National Integrated Health Services Information Analysis Asset version 0.5 (NIHSI AA v0.5) for all years of admitted hospital data from 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2017. These ratios were calculated for different age-groups by taking the number of people living with Guillain-Barré syndrome, identified by having at least one hospitalisation with Guillain-Barré syndrome recorded in a diagnosis field and not being recorded in the deaths data, and dividing this number by the total number of hospitalisations with Guillain-Barré syndrome recorded in a diagnosis field (regardless of whether they were alive). The ratios were then applied to more recent hospitalisations data from 2022 to estimate the prevalence of people living with Guillain-Barré syndrome.
The methods for the ABDS are described here Australian Burden of Disease Study: Methods and supplementary material 2018, Disease specific methods - morbidity (AIHW 2021).
The NIHSI AA v0.5 links data on admitted patient care (hospitalisations), emergency department presentations, non-admitted patient care, deaths, prescription medications, Medicare services and residential aged care. The NIHSI AA v0.5 contains 7 years of de-identified data from 2010–11 to 2016–17. NIHSI transitioned to the National Health Data Hub (NHDH) in May 2024, and will no longer be updated. Learn more at the National Health Data Hub.
Notes
The Neurological conditions in Australia 2025 project was undertaken by members of the Chronic Conditions Unit of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
The AIHW acknowledges the ongoing contributions and consultation provided by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and the Neurological Conditions Expert Advisory Group. For further information on contributions to the project, see Notes in the Neurological Conditions in Australia report.
AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2021) Australian Burden of Disease Study 2018: Interactive data on disease burden, AIHW website, accessed 11 September 2025.
AIHW (2022) Australian Burden of Disease Study 2018: Interactive data on disease burden among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, AIHW website, accessed 5 May 2025.
AIHW (2024) Australian Burden of Disease Study 2024, AIHW website, accessed 5 May 2025.
AIHW (2025) Health system spending on disease and injury in Australia 2023–24 AIHW website, accessed 29 October 2025.
Better Health Channel (2014) Guillain-Barré syndrome, Better Health Channel website, accessed 20 November 2024.
Healthdirect (2024) Guillain-Barré syndrome, Healthdirect Australia website, accessed 21 March 2025.
Hankey GJ (1987) ‘Guillain–Barré syndrome in Western Australia, 1980–1985’, The Medical Journal of Australia, 146(3):130–133, doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.1987.tb120153.x.
IHME (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation) (2025). GBD Results [data set], IHME website, accessed 4 December 2024.
Storey E, Cook M, Peppard R, Newton-John H and Byrne E (1989) ‘Guillain-Barré syndrome and related conditions in Victorian teaching hospitals 1980-84’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Medicine, 19(6):687–693, doi:10.1111/j.1445-5994.1989.tb00335.x.