This study investigated the hypothesis that severity of depressive symptoms following acute ischemic stroke is associated with degree of tissue infarction and severity of white matter changes (WMCs). It employed a novel quantitative region-based approach considering both infarction and WMCs. Of 54 ischemic stroke patients recruited, 50 (72.3 ± 12.8 years, 52.0% male) had useable CT scans. The typical patient was recruited within 3 weeks of their stroke (19.7 ± 31.0 days), exhibited minor cognitive impairment (MMSE score 25.8 ± 4.6), and had mild to moderate stroke severity (NIHSS score 6.5 ± 5.4). 28.0% of patients screened positive for clinical depression with a CES-D score ≥16. While neither degree of infarction nor severity of WMCs (ARWMC score) in the 12 brain regions correlated with depressive symptoms (CES-D score), stroke severity was a significant predictor of depressive symptoms. This stressor, related to physical disability, was a predominant predictor over lesion characteristics.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/29546 |
| Date | 24 August 2011 |
| Creators | Francis, Philip |
| Contributors | Lanctôt, Krista |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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