Martina Reiten Bovim has studied complications, new-onset pain and emotional distress the first months after stroke.

MAIN RESULTS:

1. Complication risk the first week after stroke has decreased over the past decade.
2. Three months after stroke, one out of five patients experience new-onset pain.

THESIS DEFENCE:

Thesis: Complications, pain and emotional distress after stroke
Candidate: Martina Reiten Bovim
Time: January 25 at 12:15
Place: St. Olavs Hospital, Medical Technical Research Center: Auditorium MTA
Link to university website (in Norwegian)

SUMMARY:

(1) Between 2003 and 2013 the risk of complications during the first week after stroke was reduced by 36 %. The reduction was most pronounced in patients with moderate stroke.

The study compares 489 patients who had a stroke in 2002 or 2003 with 185 stroke patients from 2012 and 2013. The reduction was mainly due to fewer heart attacks and a lower risk of progressing stroke, and the frequency of other complications remained unchanged.

(2) New-onset pain occurred in 10 % of stroke patients one week after the stroke and in 22 % three months later. Symptoms of anxiety were linked to new-onset pain. The study includes 390 patients, of which 142 had provided information on pain at both time-points. New-onset pain in the affected upper limb and in both legs increased during follow-up.

(3) A third article focusing on emotional distress after stroke is currently not published.

REFERENCES:

(1) Bovim, M. R., Askim, T., Lydersen, S., Fjærtoft, H., & Indredavik, B. (2016). Complications in the first week after stroke: a 10-year comparison. BMC neurology, 16(1), 133.

(2) Bovim, M. R., Indredavik, B., Hokstad, A., Lydersen, S., & Askim, T. (2018). new-onset pain in the early phase and three months following stroke–data from a multicenter study. Journal of pain research, 11, 1869.