OBJECTIVE: Health-related utility is poorly characterised in stroke patients with limb spasticity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate health utility in stroke patients with and without upper and lower limb spasticity. METHODS: Data were abstracted from the Health Outcomes Data Repository (HODaR) describing treatment patterns, outcomes and quality of life following a modified survey describing 151 patients who had experienced a stroke in the last two years. Data were available describing demographics, the EQ5D and the presence/absence of self reported limb spasticity. These data were then linked to routine hospital inpatient data. RESULTS: The mean age was 72.4 years (56% males). One quarter (26.5%) of respondents reported no limb spasticity. Of the remainder, 13.9% reported upper limb spasticity only, 11.2% lower limb spasticity only, and 27.2% a combination of both. Overall, the mean EQ5Dindex for these patients was 0.55, although patients reporting no limb spasticity had a higher EQ5Dindex (0.73) compared to those reporting lower limb spasticity (0.36; ?=0.37). There was a notable difference in utility between those with upper and lower limb spasticity where patients reporting lower limb spasticity had lower health utility (0.36 vs. 0.62 respectively; ?=0.26). A similar pattern existed in their duration of hospital stay with patients experiencing upper and lower limb spasticity having a mean length of stay of 42.7 days compared to 29.1 days (lower limb spasticity only) and 20.5 days (upper limb spasticity only). Patients reporting no limb spasticity had a mean length of stay of 10.2 days. CONCLUSIONS: The mean utility estimates obtained from this study show stroke patients experienced a substantial decrease in quality of life and a further decrease was recorded in those patients reporting upper and/or lower limb spasticity. Limb spasticity was also associated with a substantial increase in hospital length of stay.