Poststroke depression in acute phase after stroke

We studied factors associated with acute poststroke depression in 100 patie nts, aged 27-70, 2 weeks after their first clinically significant stroke. D epressive symptoms were relatively common (27% Beck Depression Inventory gr eater than or equal to 10), but the prevalence of major depression was only 5.6%, Older patients were most vulnerable to poststroke depression. Patien ts with left hemisphere lesion had no more depression than other patients, but when the lesion was in the left hemisphere or in the brainstem, stroke severity was associated with depression. Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG. B asel.