• Henriette Klit, Nanna Brix Finnerup, Grethe Andersen, and Troels Staehelin Jensen.
• Danish Pain Research Center, Aarhus University Hospital, Norrebrogade 44, Building 1A, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
• Pain. 2011 Apr 1;152(4):818-24.

AbstractCentral poststroke pain (CPSP) is a specific pain condition arising as a direct consequence of a cerebrovascular lesion. There is limited knowledge about the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of this often neglected but important consequence of stroke. In this population-based study, a questionnaire was sent out to all (n=964) stroke patients identified through the Danish National Indicator Project Stroke Database in Aarhus County, Denmark, between March 2004 and February 2005. All surviving patients who fulfilled 4 questionnaire criteria for possible CPSP (n=51) were selected for further clinical examination, and their pain was classified by using stringent and well-defined criteria and a detailed, standardized clinical examination. The minimum prevalence of definite or probable CPSP in this population is 7.3% and the prevalence of CPSP-like dysesthesia or pain is 8.6%. Pinprick hyperalgesia was present in 57%, cold allodynia in 40%, and brush-evoked dysesthesia in 51% of patients with CPSP. Because of its negative impact on quality of life and rehabilitation, pain is an important symptom to assess in stroke survivors.Copyright © 2010 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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