Study on the relationship between post-stroke depression and neurological deficits

Abstract

Objective To explore the relationship of post-stroke depression (PSD) with neurological function deficits and activities of daily living. Methods A total of 160 patients with stroke from August 2012 to September 2013 in Department of Neurology in our hospital were enrolled. Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 Items (HAMD-17), National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and Barthel Index (BI) were used to assess depression,  neurological function deficits and activities of daily living of stroke patients.  Results A total of 65 patients (40.63%) appeared depression after stroke. Compared with non-PSD group, patients in PSD group presented more serious neurological function deficits (P = 0.045) and less activities of daily living (P = 0.000). The PSD group was further divided into 3 subgroups: mild, moderate and severe depression. Along with the increase of severity of PSD, NIHSS score increased (P = 0.000, 0.000, 0.000) while Activities of Daily Living (ADL) score decreased (P = 0.000, 0.000, 0.000). Pearson correlation analysis suggested that HAMD score was positively correlated with NIHSS score (r = 0.534, P = 0.005), and negatively correlated with ADL score (r = -0.645, P = 0.002). Conclusions PSD is closely related with the degree of neurological function deficits and activities of daily living. Curing the primary disease, reducing neurological dysfunction, taking early rehabilitation therapy, and improving the patients' activities of daily living will be helpful to alleviate the degree of PSD.

DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2016.05.005