[Stroke and psychiatric disorders]

To define the prevalence of depression, anxiety, aggressiveness and personality disorders in a cohort of stroke survivors; to identify demographic and clinical factors associated with psychiatric disorders.

The sample included patients admitted during the period 01.01.2000-31.12.2001 for a stroke and giving informed consent for a direct interview. The interview included an anamnestic and clinical evaluation, the Mini Mental State Examination, the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and Anxiety, the Modified Overt Aggression Scale and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR.

Depression was present in 27% of cases (mild 14.6%, moderate 4.9%, severe 7.3%), anxiety in 12% and personality disorders in 10.2% (no cases reported aggressiveness). Patients with a positive psychopathology profile were at higher risk of depression and anxiety. No correlation was found between psychiatric disorders and other demographic and clinical variables, including stroke characteristics and severity. CONCLUSIONS; Psychiatric disorders, mostly depression, are fairly common in stroke survivors. Depression and anxiety are significantly correlated to the patient's psychopathological profile. There is no significant association between psychiatric disorders and stroke characteristics and severity.