Post-stroke affective or apathetic depression and lesion location: left frontal lobe and bilateral basal ganglia

This study was designed to examine the correlation between damage to the basal ganglia or frontal lobe and depression status (both affective and apathetic dimensions) in 243 stroke patients. We assessed the affective dimension in post-stroke depression (PSD) using the Zung Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) and the apathetic dimension in PSD using the apathy scale (AS). We classified basal ganglia or frontal lobe damage into four groups: no damage, damage to the left side only, damage to the right side only, and damage to both sides. Affective and/or apathetic PSD was found in 126 patients (51.9%). The severity of affective depression (SDS score) was associated with left frontal lobe (but not basal ganglia) damage, and that of apathetic depression (AS score) was related to damage to the bilateral basal ganglia (but not to the frontal lobe). The anatomical correlates of PSD differ depending on the PSD dimension (affective or apathetic) and may explain interstudy differences regarding the association between lesion location and type of PSD.