Post-Stroke Depression and Its Effect on Functional Outcomes during Inpatient Rehabilitation

Objective  The aim of the study is to observe the effect of post-stroke depression on functional outcomes during inpatient rehabilitation. Materials and Methods  The design involved is prospective observational study. The location involved is Neurological Rehabilitation unit in a tertiary care university hospital. The study period ranges from October 2019 to April 2020. The participants involved are the patients with first ever stroke, male and female with age ≥18 years and duration less than 1 year. All participants were assessed at admission and after 14 sessions of inpatient rehabilitation by depression subscale of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-D) and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). The stroke outcomes measures used were: Barthel Index (BI), Scandinavian Stroke Scale (SSS), and Modified Rankin Scale (MRS). Results  There are a total of 30 participants (18 males) with median stroke duration of 90 days. The median age of the patients was 58 years. Sixteen patients had ischemic and 14 had hemorrhagic stroke. Out of these, 57% ( n = 17) had symptoms of depression (HADS-D >7). Participants in both groups (with and without depression) showed improvement in all the functional outcome measures (BI, SSS, MRS) at the time of discharge as compared with admission scores. The changes in the outcome measures were statistically significant within groups ( p < 0.05) but not significant between the groups ( p > 0.05). Conclusion  The post-stroke depression is common among stroke survivors of less than 1 year duration. There was no significant difference in the functional outcomes between stroke patients with depression and those without depression with inpatient rehabilitation program.