Depression and Quality of Life after Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis

Abstract

Introduction: Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) is an important cause of stroke in young and has a favorable outcome. Long-term sequelae of CVST include motor disability, cognitive impairment, depression, anxiety, fatigue, impaired employment and poor quality of life.

Objective: To evaluate depression and quality of life after CVST.

Methods: Patients who completed at least 1 year after discharge were recruited for this cross-sectional observational study from our CVST cohort. Quality of life was assessed using Stroke-Adapted Sickness Impact Profile (SA-SIP 30) and depression using Hamilton Depression scale (HAM-D).

Results: A total of 100 patients (60 men and 40 women) were included in the study. Their age ranged from 14 to 60 years (34.97 ± 10.06). The interval from discharge to assessment of quality of life was 2.2 ± 1.6 years. In all, 98% of patients had good modified Rankin score at follow-up. SA-SIP 30 did not reveal any functional disability for physical functioning. Seven had impairment for psychosocial domain despite having good modified Rankin scores. Thirty patients had depression. Patients with higher mRS at discharge had increased presence of depression. Quality-of-life scores did not correlate with presence of seizure, headache, infarction and sinuses involved.

Conclusion: This is the first Indian study demonstrating depression in patients with CVST and use of SA-SIP to assess quality of life in them. Occurrence of depression in CVST is as high as in arterial strokes.

Keywords: Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis; Hamilton Depression scale; post-stroke depression; quality of life.