Session Information
Date: Monday, June 20, 2016
Session Title: Quality of life/caregiver burden in movement disorders
Session Time: 12:30pm-2:00pm
Location: Exhibit Hall located in Hall B, Level 2
Objective: To trace a clinical and epidemiological profile of patients treated with botulinum toxin, evaluating the impact on quality of life.
Background: The Botulinum Toxin (BTX) is a therapeutic modality used in a wide range of neurological disorders, such as dystonia (cervical, focal limb and hemifacial spasm), tics, tremors and spasticity. The present study address the relationship between BTX therapy and improvement of quality of life, in the light of conflicting literature on that matter.(Slawek et al, 2007),(Gudex et al,1998).
Methods: 110 patients selected from the Movement Disorders Clinics of two tertiary centers in Rio de Janeiro/Brazil and evaluated for age, gender, type of BTX, technic of application, adverse events and clinical syndrome. To assess quality of life we used the SF-36® scale, a generic questionnaire to determine the global impact of treatment.
Results: The most prevalent clinical syndromes identified in our group were dystonia, spasticity and bruxism. Etiologies were heterogeneous: idiopathic dystonia was the most prevalent (43%), followed by stroke (10%) and peripheral facial palsy (9%). We applied the scale in 55 patients pre and post treatment, the majority of whom (65%) showed improvement (table 1) with a higher impact upon mental health, vitality, physical functioning and body pain subsections. The group of 35% patients with worse scores in comparison to pre-therapy values had frequent involvement of mental health, vitality and social functioning subsections although role-emotional and role-physical showed improvement. There was an incidence of 24 patients with adverse events: ptosis (13%), dysphagia (6%) and limb paresis (5%) were the most common. Prevalence of dystonia was higher than spasticity and we have seen a lower incidence of adverse events in spasticity.
| Improved | Equal | Worse | |||||
| Total | 35 (64%) | 1 (1,8%) | 19(35%) | ||||
| Improve total score | Worse total score | ||||||
| Improve | Equal | Worse | improve | equal | worse | ||
| Physical functioning | 20 | 8 | 7 | Role-physical | 10 | 4 | 5 |
| Body pain | 20 | 9 | 6 | General Health | 9 | 3 | 7 |
| Role-physical | 19 | 12 | 4 | Body pain | 7 | 5 | 7 |
| General Health | 19 | 4 | 12 | Physical functioning | 6 | 7 | 6 |
| Mental health | 28 | 5 | 2 | Role-emotional | 11 | 3 | 5 |
| Vitality | 23 | 3 | 9 | Social functioning | 7 | 2 | 10 |
| Social functioning | 21 | 11 | 3 | Vitality | 3 | 5 | 11 |
| Role-emotional | 15 | 16 | 4 | Mental health | 3 | 2 | 14 |
Conclusions: BTX therapy had a positive effect on the quality of life in most in our sample and remains a good therapeutic option in dystonia, spasticity and in bruxism. More studies are necessary for document the impact in quality of life as well scales to measure a functional improvement in patient treated with BTX therapy.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
G. Amorelli, L.F. Vasconcellos, M. Spitz, L.F. Fraga. Quality of life and epidemiological profile of patients undergoing botulinum toxin treatment [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2016; 31 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/quality-of-life-and-epidemiological-profile-of-patients-undergoing-botulinum-toxin-treatment/. Accessed June 15, 2025.« Back to 2016 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/quality-of-life-and-epidemiological-profile-of-patients-undergoing-botulinum-toxin-treatment/