Evaluation and Treatment of Depression in Stroke Patients: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Those who received early diagnosis and treatment for poststroke depression had lower mortality rates, cognitive impairments, improved long-term disability, a higher quality of life, and lower rates of suicidal thoughts than those who did not. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 standards were used to conduct this systematic review. Until May 1, 2022, a systematic search was conducted utilizing ScienceDirect, Cochrane, PubMed, Google Scholar, and PubMed central databases, which have been used during the previous 10 years. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), observational studies, systematic reviews, review articles, case reports, clinical studies, and meta-analyses were included in the research, which covered post-stroke depression patients and how to identify and treat them. There were 545 possibly related titles found in the database search. Finally, each publication was given a quality rating, and 10 studies with a score of higher than 70% were allowed into the review. Because of their brevity and ease of use, they employed the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and PHQ-2 screening instruments in stroke patients. According to pooled studies, the risk of acquiring post-stroke depression (PSD) was lower in participants undergoing pharmacological therapy with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), especially after a year. Identifying further features of the PSD process, we believe, is the most pressing need for future study since it might lead to a more precise treatment strategy.