Safety and self-reported efficacy of botulinum toxin for adult spasticity in current clinical practice: a prospective observational study

Objective: To determine the safety and the self-reported efficacy of botulinum toxin injections for adult spasticity in current clinical practice.Design: A prospective observational study.Subjects: A total of 406 adult patients with focal spasticity received of 1136 series botulinum toxin injections at Bordeaux University Hospital from January 2007 to December 2009.Methods: Adverse events following botulinum toxin injections were reported. Their severity and the therapeutic efficacy of botulinum toxin injections were estimated with a four-point self-reporting scale (0 to 3). Latency and duration of adverse events and subjective improvement were also noted.Results: The data of 640 series of injections were analyzed. Forty-six (7.2%) adverse events were reported, of which 36 (78%) were local. There were 18 (39%) cases of local muscular weakness with an average duration of 30.0 (SD 38.2) days, and an average severity score of 1.0 (SD 0.97). Among systemic adverse events, there were 8 (17%) cases of excessive...