The effect of post-stroke depression on rehabilitation outcome and the impact of caregiver type as a factor of post-stroke depression.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of post-stroke depression (PSD) on rehabilitation outcome and to investigate the risk factors of PSD, especially, the role of caregivers type (family or professional) in subacute stroke patients.

Methods: Two hundred twenty-six stroke patients were enrolled retrospectively. All the subjects' basic characteristics, Korean version of the Beck Depression Inventory (K-BDI), Korean version of the Modified Barthel Index (K-MBI), and the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) were recorded when the patient was transferred into the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and at the time of discharge. The results were statistically analyzed by using SPSS ver. 20.0.

Results: The patients' K-BDI score showed a significantly negative association with K-MBI at discharge (β=-0.473, p<0.001) and a significantly positive association with the mRS score at discharge (β=0.316, p<0.001). Patients with lesions on the left hemisphere (odds ratio [OR], 3.882; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.726-8.733) and professional caregiver support (OR, 0.028; 95% CI, 0.012-0.065) had a higher rate of depression.

Conclusion: Depression was prevalent in stroke patients, and it had a negative effect on patients' functional outcome. Patients who had a lesion on the right hemisphere had less depression. The type of caregiver was related to the incidence of subacute PSD, and family caregivers were found to lower the frequency of stroke patients' depression.