Depression at 3 months poststroke in the elderly: Predictors and indicators of prevalence

The prevalence and determinants of depression in 79 elderly patients were a ssessed at 3 months poststroke. Predictor variables included gender, age, h istory of previous stroke, and hemispheric location of stroke. Indicator va riables included two measures of physical functioning and seven aspects of cognitive functioning. Results indicated that 56% of patients had impairmen t in activities of daily living, and 39% reported clinically significant le vels of depression. Prevalence of cognitive impairment ranged from 31% on a measure of basic cognitive functioning, through to 89% on a measure of com plex attention. The results from a hierarchical multiple regression analysi s showed that the combination of predictor and indicator variables explaine d 53% of the variance in depression scores. The three individual variables of history of previous stroke, physical functioning, and simple attention a ll made significant unique contributions to the variance in depression scor es. The contribution of these findings to the ongoing debate concerning les ion location and poststroke depression is discussed.