Predictors of depressive symptoms in patients with stroke - a three-month follow-up.

Background And Purpose: Depression is one of the most common post-stroke complications, which could impair rehabilitation outcome and quality of life, and could also increase mortality after stroke. The aim of the present study was to assess the association between demographic, socioeconomic and clinical (stroke risk factors, type of stroke, location of vascular lesion, cognitive functions) factors on the presence and severity of post-stroke depressive symptoms in patients after first ever stroke as well as on their social functioning.

Material And Methods: A prospective, cohort study with a three-month observation period was performed in seven centres.

Factors predicting early stroke fatality in Poland. Preliminary report of the Polish National Stroke Registry.

Poland has one of the highest rates of death due to stroke in Europe, which, in contrast to many industrialized countries, has not changed since at least 1984. To improve this unfavorable situation, the entire approach to stroke management needs to be recognized. For this purpose, an analysis of stroke epidemiology regarding regional differences was one of the the strategic points of the Polish National Project of Stroke Prevention and Treatment.

[Atrial fibrillation and carotid artery disease in ischemic stroke patients].

Ischemic strokes occurring in patients with non-rheumatic atrial fibrillation (AF) are due to a variety mechanisms, and not necessarily to cardiogenic embolism. The aim of the study was to determine the role and prevalence of carotid artery disease in stroke patients with AF, as well as its influence on the stroke prognosis. 513 consecutive patients with ischemic stroke participated in the study.

The polish experience in early stroke care.

Stroke units are being organised in Poland since 1997. To ensure easy access to stroke care, 120 specialised units need to be created. There were 23 stroke units in Poland in the year 2000.

[Clinical picture of spinocerebellar ataxia type I (SCA1)].

Spinocerebellar ataxia is a group of diseases with autosomal dominant inheritance heterogenous both clinically and genetically. So called dynamic mutations underlie most these nosological units. The clinical patterns of various SCA types have not yet been defined completely.