Post-stroke depression and functional recovery in a population-based stroke register. The Finnstroke study.

Post-stroke depression and functional outcome were examined in a population-based stroke register active in four different districts (total population, 134 804) in Finland. Five hundred and ninety four first time strokes were registered. Beck's depression inventory (BDI), with ten as the cutoff point for depression, was applied to 321 of 423 survivors after three months and to 311 of 390 survivors after 12 months. Functional outcome was measured with the Barthel Index (BI) and the Rankin Scale (RS). One hundred and fifty one of 321 (47.0%) and 147 of 311 (47.3%) patients were depressed after three and 12 months, respectively. Depression at three months was associated with poor functional outcome at the one-year follow-up (P = 0.001 for the BI and the RS). On the other hand, poor functional outcome at three months was associated with depression after one year (P = 0.004 and 0.002 for the BI and the RS, respectively). Patients who were depressed at three months were more often in institutional care between three and 12 months later than non-depressed patients (P = 0.005). Post-stroke depression is associated with poor functional recovery of patients. If depression were diagnosed and treated early, it might help patients to recover more completely and/or faster, which could save community healthcare resources by avoiding or shortening the time of institutional care or reducing the need for home care. Copyright 1999 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins