Relationship between depressive symptoms and cognitive status in acute ischemic stroke

Abstract

Depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment frequently occur already in the acute phase of ischemic stroke. The aim of the study was to determine whether there was an association between depressive symptoms and different domains of the cognitive status in acute ischemic stroke patients and to identify cognitive domains that significantly correlated with the presence of depressive symptoms. The study comprised 40 acute ischemic stroke patients (26 men and 14 women) aged 45-78 years, with 8-16 years of education. The presence of depressive symptoms was assessed using the self-reported Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI), whereas the cognitive status was evaluated using a comprehensive neuropsychological testing battery measuring performance in different cognitive domains. The following domains were evaluated: executive function, language, immediate recall, delayed recall, attention, divergent reasoning, and visual-constructive performance in two dimensions. The multiple regression analysis was applied. The results showed a significant association between the presence of depressive symptoms and different cognitive domains. The domain of language was found to be a significant partial predictor of depression, with poorer performance in this domain correlating with a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms.Depresivna obelezja i poremecaj u radu kognitivnog statusa se cesto mogu javiti vec u akutnoj fazi ishemickog mozdanog udara. Cilj istrazivanja je bio da se ustanovi da li postoji povezanost izmedju depresivnih obelezja i razlicitih domena kognitivnog statusa kod pacijenata u akutnoj fazi ishemickog mozdanog udara, kao i da se ustanovi koji je od domena kognitivnog statusa znacajno povezan sa prisustvo depresivnih obelezja. U istrazivanju je ucestvovalo 40 pacijenata (26 muskaraca i 14 zena, starosti od 45-78 godina, 8-16 godina edukacije) u akutnoj fazi ishemickog mozdanog udara. U cilju procene prisustva depresivnih obelezja primenjen je samoopisni inventar depresivnosti - Bekova skala depresivnosti, dok je za procenu kognitivnog statusa primenjena opsezna neuropsiholoska testovna baterija kojom je ispitano postignuce u razlicitim domenima kognitivnog statusa. Ispitani su sledeci domeni: egzekutivne funkcije, govor, neposredno upamcivanje, odlozeno prisecanje, paznja, divergentno misljenje i vizuelno-konstruktivno izvodjenje u dve dimenzije. Primenjena je visestruka regresiona analiza. Ustanovljeno je da postoji znacajna povezanost izmedju prisustva depresivnih obelezja i razlicitih domena kognitivnog statusa. Kao znacajni parcijalni prediktor depresivnosti izdvojio se kognitivni domen govor, pri cemu je losije postignuce u ovom domenu povezano sa vecom zastupljenoscu depresivnih obelezja.