Correlation of post-stroke depression with stroke deficit scale and serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in the elderly / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the association of post stroke depression (PSD) with the scale of stroke deficit and serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in the elderly.Methods A total of 150 elderly stroke patients from the department of neurology of our hospital were recruited from August 2010 to September 2013.Patients were assessed by the Hamilton depression rating scale (HAMD),the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS),and the Activitics of Daily Living Scale (ADL).In addition,serum BDNF levels were determined by ELISA.Results 42.0％ of the 150 elderly patients suffered depression after stroke (63/150).There were significant differences in neurological function impairment and ADL scores between the PSD group and the non-PSD group [(14.72±4.06) vs.(5.51±1.93) and (40.63±17.06) vs.(79.66±29.31),t=18.49 and 9.47,respectively,P＜0.0001 for both].HAMD and NIHSS scores showed positive correlations with the degreeof depression (r=0.998 and 0.962,P=0.0012 and 0.0375,respectively).ADL scores and serum BDNF levels decreased as the degree of depression increased,and were negatively correlated with the degree of depression (r=-0.985 and-0.995,P=0.0149 and 0.0049,respectively).Conclusions The degree of post-stoke depression is positively correlated with the scale of neurological dysfunction and negatively correlated with the activities of daily living scale and serum BDNF levels in the elderly.The primary disease should be properly treated,and improvement in brain metabolism and micro circulation should be attempted to alleviate neurological dysfunction.In addition,rehabilitation therapy should be performed early in elderly stroke patients in order to improve physical activity and self-care ability,thus reducing the degree of disability and depression.