Depression and cognitive dysfunction in patients with acute stroke

Abstract

Purpose: Post stroke depression is seen frequently and causes delays in recovery of the patient, worsens functional status and makes a negative impact on quality of life. Cognitive disorders are also seen frequently and after 3 months demential findings are observed in 1/4 of patients. The aim of our study was to compare cognitive functions and emotional status of patients administered for stroke at our clinic within first week with the healthy subjects who were at similar age and gender. Patients and methods: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), National Institute of Health Scale, Barthel Scale and Beck Depression Scale are applied to the 30 patients who were hospitalized for acute stroke to detect emotional status, cognitive function and severity of stroke. MMSE and Beck depression scales were applied to 30 healthy people as control group. Two groups are compared by student t test. Results: The mean values of Beck Depression Scale for patient group and control group were 15.2±10.5 and 8.8±4.2 respectively (p=0.001). The mean values of MMSE for post stroke group and control group were 25.8±4.7 and 27.9±1.7 respectively (p=0.032). There was no correlation between Beck Scale and stroke scales. Conclusion: Our study detected that cognitive functions and emotional status are impaired at post stroke patients when compared with the healthy people at the same age and gender.