Frequency and characteristics of emotional disorders in patients after ischemic stroke

Emotional disturbances in stroke patients may unfavorably affect the process of rehabilitation and longterm outcome of the disease. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of emotional disturbances and their characteristics in our stroke patients, according to hemispheric lateralization of cerebral lesion (as recorded by CT), patient sex and grade of neurological handicap (as assessed by Rankin scale). The study included 50 patients (29 men and 21 women, mean age 65.52 ± 7.07 and 64.62 ± 11.83 years, respectively) who had suffered ischemic stroke 3 weeks to 6 months before the study. The Crown-Crisp experience index which consists of six scales: scales of anxiety, phobia, obsession, somatization, depression and hysteria, were used for detection of emotional disturbances. Results showed a high prevalence of emotional disturbances in the study group. Depression was most common (36 of study patients), followed by generalized anxiety (n=29) and phobic disturbances (n=33). According to hemispheric lateralization of the cerebral lesion, a more intense emotional response was found in case of right hemispheric lesions, however, the difference was statistically significant only on the scale of somaticized anxiety (p<0.05). According to sex, a more intense emotional response was recorded in women. The difference being statistically significant on the scales of anxiety (p<0.05), depression (p<0.05) and phobia (p<0.01). An increasing tendency in the prevalence of emotional disturbances was observed with the increasing severity of neurologic deficit (p<0.05).