RESUMEN
Objective To test whether the prophylactic small dose amitriptyline has any beneficial influence on the rate of poststroke depression (PSD) by clinical experiment. Methods All 123 patients with first stroke were divided into the intervention group and the control group according to the block randomization tables. The patients in the intervention group were treated with 12. 5 mg amitriptyline every night for more than 1 month and the control group was blank Before and at the end of the observation, the rate of PSD and activities of daily living (ADL), degree of neurological deficit (NIHSS) of all the subjects were assessed. Results At the end of the one-month treatment, the intervention group had lower rate of PSD (16. 4% ) than the control (51.6%);and they had lower score in NIHSS (2. 83 ± 1.74 vs 3. 64 ±1.93) and higher score in ADL (93.0 ± 16. 1 vs 87.0 ± 37. 1) than the control. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed: the change of ADL score was closely related to the rate of PSD (RR =3.01 ,P =0. 04); the change of NIHSS score was closely related to the rate of PSD ( RR = 2. 42, P = 0. 03 );prophylactic small dose amitriptyline was closely related to PSD ( RR = 3.11, P = 0. 01 ). Conclusions Prophylactic small dose amitriptyline can decrease the rat of PSD, reduce the neurologic impairment and improve the activity of daily living.