Treatment of cognitive impairment after poststroke depression : a double-blind treatment trial

Patients with poststroke major depression have a greater severity of cognitive impairment than nondepressed patients even when matched for size and location of stroke lesion. Prior treatment studies have consistently failed to show an improvement in cognitive function even when poststroke mood disorders responded to antidepressant therapy. We examined the response of cognitive function to treatment with nortriptyline or placebo in a double-blind trial.

Patients with major (n=33) or minor (n=14) depression participated in a double-blind treatment study with nortriptyline or placebo. They were examined for change in depressive mood, measured by the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D), and change in cognitive impairment, assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), after treatment with nortriptyline or placebo. Cognitive treatment response, as measured by the MMSE, was compared between patients whose depression did and did not respond to treatment.

Patients whose poststroke depression remitted (predominantly associated with nortriptyline treatment) had significantly greater recovery in cognitive function over the course of the treatment study than patients whose mood disorder did not remit (predominantly associated with placebo treatment).

Our findings support the contention that poststroke major depression leads to a "dementia of depression." Prior studies failed to show an effect of treatment because the effect size was too small. Successful treatment of depression may constitute one of the major methods of promoting cognitive recovery in victims of stroke.