POSTSTROKE DEPRESSION AMONG THE CHINESE ELDERLY IN A RURAL-COMMUNITY

Background and Purpose A door-to-door survey was conducted in two town ships in the Kinmen islets to investigate the prevalence and other cha racteristics related to depressive disorders of stroke survivors in an elderly Chinese population. Methods Our target population comprised t he registered residents greater than or equal to 65 years old (n=2056) of a total population of 26105 on August 1, 1993. All participants an swered a questionnaire, filled in a Geriatric Depression Scale-short f orm (GDS-S), and received a neurological examination. Depression was d efined as a GDS-S score greater than or equal to 5. Results Twenty-eig ht of 45 stroke survivors (62.2%) and 491 of 1471 nonstroke subjects ( 33.4%) were classified as depressed. The frequency of stroke survivors ' depressive disorders was significantly higher that of nonstroke subj ects (P < .001). Multiple regression analysis indicated that GDS-S sco res were most related with the activities of daily living (R-2 = .19, P = .004) in the stroke survivors. Conclusions Depressed mood was comm on after stroke, and activities of daily living were an important fact or for depression in stroke survivors in the community.