Predictors of subjective impairment after stroke: influence of depression, gender and severity of stroke

Chapter 16 of our textbook talks about disorders of the brain and how they can be diagnosed and treated. Stroke results from a lack of blood, called ischemia, followed by cellular events that cause the real damage. The ideal treatment for stroke is to restore blood flow in the blocked vessels before the cellular events occur. There are certain medications and therapies that also help to treat stroke patients. The study I found is “Predictors of subjective impairment after stroke: Influence of depression, gender and severity of stroke”. The aim of this study was to identify some key factors that are associated with stroke survivors perceptions of their impairments. There were a total of 104 participants that had to meet certain criteria to be eligible to participate in the study. The longitudinal study was conducted from 1999 to 2003 with the help of 4 rehab centres. The patients were examined twice with their partners. Once directly after agreeing to participate and then one year later. 104 patient/spose groups gave consent and completed questionnaires on admission to rehab. One year later, 81 of the initial 104 couples agreed to participate in the study. The researcher used the Barthel Index to asses patients level of functional disability, the Patient Competency Rating to measure deficiencies in physical, cognitive, and psychosocial functioning, and performance on everyday tasks, and the Cornell Depression Scale was constructed specifically for patients with cerebral dysfunctions. Results showed the same prevalence in depressive symptoms between measurement points, only slight gender differences were found in the prevalence of depressive symptoms. At time two, the percentage of depressed men was much higher than that of women, 28.2%, 14.3% respectively. It was indicated that gender was a predictor of patients perceived impairments but that depression had no predictive value of perceived impairment. The researcher believes that their findings strongly indicate that rehabs should focus more on interventions that promote emotional coping and reduce depressive symptoms of stroke sufferers.

Wilz, G. (2007). Predictors of subjective impairment after stroke: influence of depression, gender and severity of stroke. Brain Injury, 21(1), 39-45.

http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.utm.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=49&hid=104&sid=aa55f6e5-99fe-4d45-9098-e56892e98a8e%40sessionmgr104