Early Comprehensive Intervention on Post-Stroke Depression / 中国心理卫生杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate therapeutic effects of early onset of comprehensive intervention (psychotherapy plus antidepressant) in treatment of depression after stroke and its effect on functional outcome.Methods:A controlled prospective design was applied in this study of 114 patients with depression after stroke. Several scales were used for functional measure.Results:All cases were observed. 57 patients (study group) received comprehensive therapy and routine treatment of post stroke, 57patients (control) received routine only. At the 5th week after treatment and 3,6 or 12 months after stroke, study group were significantly shown more effective than control group by reduction in 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scales (HAMD-17) and by increased Barthel Index (BI).The study group had significant differences than control group by reduction in Neurological Functional Deficit Scores (NFDS) at the 5th week after therapy. In all patients'NFDS, there was no difference between study group and control group at 3,6 or 12 months after stroke. In study group, the effective rate of antidepressant therapy was 100% and the cure rate was 89.5%. These results were significantly better than the counter parts of control group (12.3% and 3.5% respectively, P