Depression is the most common neuropsychiatric complication of a stroke (Post Stroke Depression-PSD) and has been shown to impede the recovery and rehabilitation of these patients. Prevalencerates of PSD vary between 6% and 79%. Direct comparison between studies is limited due to theirdifferent methodology. Etiology of PSD is determined by biological and psychosocial factors.Symptoms of PSD appear in three areas: affective, somatic and cognitive. Differential diagnosisincludes post-stroke fatigue and pseudo-depressive manifestations of ischemic infarctions (apathy,aprosody, athymhormia, pseudobulbar palsy). Mortality in post-stroke patients is higher thanin non-depressed stroke patients and suicide ideation is observed in 6.6–11.3% of stroke patients.Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) are considered as the first choice treatment of PSD.Other therapeutic approaches include cognitive and functional rehabilitation. PSD is a potentiallytreatable condition, yet under-diagnosed, and has a negative effect on functional recovery and survivalof stroke patients.

Key words: Depression, stroke, antidepressive treatment

S. Arseniou, A. Arvaniti, M. Samakouri (page 240) - Full article in Greek