Depression in stroke patients 7 years following stroke

Objective: To study the frequency of depression in stroke patients many years following stroke, most previous studies having concentrated on the first few years. Method: Participants of a previous study of post-stroke depression (99 stroke patients and 28 control subjects) were re-examined 7 years later. Depression was diagnosed using research diagnostic criteria. The test battery comprised the Mini Mental State Examination, the Raven Matrices ASB and Word Pair Learning. Subjective experience of changes in memory, concentration, mood, irritability and fatigue during the 7-year period was also examined. Results: Twenty per cent of the stroke patients fulfilled the criteria for major or minor depression compared with 11% of the control subjects. No differences in cognitive function were found between depressed and non-depressed stroke patients. The stroke patients reported experiencing more lability of mood and irritability during the 7-year period following stroke than the control subjects. Depressed stroke patients experienced more impairment of concentration and memory function than nondepressed stroke patients. Conclusion: Affective symptoms are common among stroke patients 7 years following stroke.