Vera Schepers, Marcel Post, Anne Visser-Meily, Ingrid van de Port, Mimouna Akhmouch, Eline Lindeman
DOI: 10.2340/16501977-0446

Objective: To describe the long-term course of depressive symptoms up to 3 years post-stroke and to develop a prediction model for depressive symptoms 1 and 3 years post-stroke.
Design: Longitudinal follow-up study.
Patients: Data were analysed for 131 patients with a first-ever supratentorial stroke admitted for inpatient rehabilitation in the Netherlands
Methods: The Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale was used to assess post-stroke depressive symptoms at 6 months, 1 and 3 years post-stroke.
Results: Post-stroke depressive symptoms were present 6 months, 1 year and 3 years post-stroke in 23. 7%, 25. 2% and 16. 0% of the patients, respectively. At all 3 assessments post-stroke depressive symptoms were absent in 65. 6% of the patients and present in 12. 2% of the patients. Of the patients with post-stroke depressive symptoms 6 months post-stroke, 41. 9% had recovered from post-stroke depressive symptoms 3 years post-stroke. The most important predictor of post-stroke depressive symptoms 1 and 3 years post-stroke was post-stroke depressive symptoms 6 months post-stroke (area under the curve 0. 75 and 0. 85). Male gender was an additional predictor for post-stroke depressive symptoms 3 years post-stroke.
Conclusion: Long-term post-stroke depressive symptoms are highly predictable at 6 months post-stroke. If a patient has not recovered from post-stroke depressive symptoms within the first 6 months post-stroke there is a high risk of chronic post-stroke depressive symptoms.