Chronic Pain Common Complication of Ischemic Strokes

According to new research in the American Heart Association Journal Stroke, chronic or persistent pain is a common complication of ischemic strokes that are caused by blocked blood vessels, as stated by a news release.

"Chronic pain syndromes are common, even following strokes of mild to moderate severity. It is associated with greater decline in physical and cognitive function, making it an important medical complication after stroke," said Martin J. O'Donnell, M.D., lead author and professor of translational medicine at the National University of Ireland in Galway, in a press statement, 

For the current study, researchers focused on data of 15,754 people from the Prevention Regimen for Effectively Avoiding Second Strokes, who were survivors of a mild or moderate stroke. The participants were followed for 30 months.

Out of 1,665 stroke survivors reporting chronic pain that started after the stroke, 431 people had central stroke pain that was due to some injury to the brain caused by stroke. 238 people had peripheral neuropathic pain, a burning or shooting pain that occurred due to the damage of the brain and spinal cord. 208 people had pain from stiff muscles, also known as spasticity. 136 people had shoulder pain due to stroke-related weakness. 86 people experienced more than one type of pain and 739 people had unclassified pain syndromes.

In a trial of treatments to avoid a second stroke, researchers noticed that 10.6 percent of more than 15,000 stroke survivors had chronic pain.

Risk factors followed by post-stroke pain include severity of stroke, excessive alcohol intake, symptoms of depression and vascular disease of blood vessels supplying the lower limbs.

O'Donnell concluded saying that this study highlights the importance of evaluating interventions in order to avoid post-stroke pain, especially in high-risk individuals.