How common is disabling spasticity one year after first-ever stroke?

What is it about?

Stroke can cause spasticity. Spasticity is a condition when muscles are contracted. This contraction can cause stiffness or tightness of the muscles and interfere with normal movement. In addition, spasticity can cause pain and contractures (limbs that is very hard to move). Spasticity is caused by damage of specific parts to the brain or spinal cord. But not all spasticity is harmful to the patients. In our study, we wanted to investigate how common disabling spasticity was one year after first-ever stroke.

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Why is it important?

Previous studies of spasticity are not consistent - they report a frequency between 19% and 39%. No studies have reported how common disabling spasticity is. Such data are needed for several reasons: 1) Patients want to know their prognosis 2) Today it is possible to treat spasticity 3) Some of these treatments (botuliniúm toxin) are expensive, and it is important for society to know the magnitude of the problem. Stroke is a very common disease. Every year, 13,7 million people are affected by stroke for the first time. And even if only a small portion of stroke patients have disabling spasticity, this adds up to a significant problem. This is what we found: 1) The occurrence of disabling spasticity is 4% one year after first-ever stroke 2) Disabling spasticity was more common in the arm compared to the legs 3) Patients under the age of 65 years are more often affected compared to patients over 65 years

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