Depression and related factors in elderly patients with occlusion stroke

The purpose of this study was to examine depression and the related factors in elderly stroke patients. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 106 participants from the outpatients department (OPD) of a teaching hospital in Taipei. The major findings of this study were: (1) Twenty-nine stroke survivors (27.4%) and eight stroke survivors (7.5%) were classified as having mild depression and moderate to severe depression, respectively. (2) There was no significant difference or correlation between the depression score and demographic characteristics, chronic illness condition, or disease characteristics. The depression scores in " worrying about nothing " were significantly lower than the depression scores in " worrying about disease " (t = -4.03, p =.03). (3) There was no significant correlation between the depression score and the Mini-Mental State Examination score, or the Barthel Index score. (4) Social support and depression were negatively correlated (r = -.306, p =.001). (5) Multiple regression analysis revealed that " worrying about disease, " " worrying about family, " and informational support from family, relatives and friends accounted for 22.1% of the variance in depression. The implications for clinical practice and further studies are suggested.