Poststroke depression in Chinese patients: frequency, psychosocial, clinical, and radiological determinants

Abstract

This study attempted to evaluate the psychosocial, clinical, and radiological predictors of poststroke depression (PSD) in Chinese patients. One hundred eighty-nine patients participated in the study. Three months after the index stroke, a psychiatrist administered the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV to all of the patients and made a DSM-IV diagnosis of depression. In addition, a host of demographic, clinical, and radiological variables were examined. Thirty-one (16.4%) of the patients had a diagnosis of PSD that included major depression (n=11, 5.8%,), minor depression (n=16, 8.5%), or dysthymia (n=4, 2.1%). Univariate analysis revealed that PSD was associated with female gender, a lower level of education, a lower Lubben Social Network Scale (LSNS) score, subcortical infarcts, and lesions in the anterior cerebral artery (ACA) territory, and the Modified Life Event Scale (MLES) score was borderline for statistical significance. Multivariate logistic regression analysis suggested that female gender, a high MLES score, and subcortical and ACA lesions were independent risk factors for PSD and that a high LSNS score was a protective factor.