Poststroke depression among the Chinese elderly in a rural community

Background and Purpose A door-to-door survey was conducted in two townships in the Kinmen islets to investigate the prevalence and other characteristics related to depressive disorders of stroke survivors in an elderly Chinese population. Methods Our target population comprised the registered residents greater than or equal to 65 years old (n=2056) of a total population of 26105 on August 1, 1993. All participants answered a questionnaire, filled in a Geriatric Depression Scale-short form (GDS-S), and received a neurological examination. Depression was defined as a GDS-S score greater than or equal to 5. Results Twenty-eight of 45 stroke survivors (62.2%) and 491 of 1471 nonstroke subjects (33.4%) were classified as depressed. The frequency of stroke survivors' depressive disorders was significantly higher that of nonstroke subjects (P < .001). Multiple regression analysis indicated that GDS-S scores were most related with the activities of daily living (R-2 = .19, P = .004) in the stroke survivors. Conclusions Depressed mood was common after stroke, and activities of daily living were an important factor for depression in stroke survivors in the community.