Anxiety and depressive symptoms in patients with acute ischaemic stroke and cognitive dysfunction: a retrospective...

Anxiety and depressive symptoms may coexist with cognitive dysfunction after stroke. This study characterized their frequency and severity during acute stroke hospitalization in patients with documented cognitive dysfunction. We conducted a retrospective, single-center study of 95 adults with acute ischaemic stroke (AIS) and cognitive dysfunction in Romania during 2024-2025. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were derived from neuropsychological conclusions and classified as absent/minimal, mild, moderate, or severe. In the main analysis, "elements" and the depression-specific "tendency" were classified as absent/minimal, while hybrid descriptors were assigned to the adjacent higher category. Sensitivity analyses examined alternative allocations. Associations were assessed using the chi-square, Fisher's exact, or Kruskal-Wallis test. Anxiety severity was available for 94 patients and was distributed as follows: 26.6% absent/minimal, 16.0% mild, 50.0% moderate, and 7.4% severe. The severe category derived from "moderate-severe" descriptors. Overall, 73.4% had anxiety of at least mild severity. Depression severity was available for 86 patients, distributed as 74.4% absent/minimal, 17.4% mild, 7.0% moderate, and 1.2% severe; 25.6% had depression of at least mild severity. Under alternative low-level classifications, the anxiety-depression difference at the at-least-mild threshold narrowed from 47.8 to 28.1 and 9.0 percentage points. Anxiety remained more frequent. Sex was associated with both severity distributions. These proportions reflect documented severity rather than prevalence estimates derived from a uniform standardized instrument. Anxiety was more frequently documented and more often reached moderate-or-greater severity than depression. Routine neuropsychological conclusions may provide information on the affective profile during this phase of care. Longitudinal studies should examine affective, cognitive, and functional trajectories during recovery.