The association of headache with negative emotion after ischemic stroke

Abstract

Objective To investigate negative emotion in patients with headache seondary to ischemic stroke and the related factors, and to provide psychological intervention improve quality of life.Methods 113 patients with headache occurring during the attack of ischemic stroke or within 72h after stroke were assigned to the study group; 263 without headache were selected to the control group. Zung selfrating anxiety scale selection (SAS), self-rating depression seale (SDS), and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) were used to survey all the subjects. Results The scores on SAS and SDS differed significantly between the patients and the national norm (P＜0.01). There were significant differences in SAS scores between the study group and the control group (P＜0.01), but no differences in SDS scores (P＞0.05). Scores on EPQ differed significantly between the study group and and the control group and from the scores on the national norm E Scale and N Scale, and P scale for female patients (P＜0.01). The scores on the E, N, P, and L scales did not differ significantly between the control group and the national norm for male and female (P＞0.05). Conclusions Obvious anxiety and depression mostly develop in patients with ischemic stroke,which may be one of the causes of headache; and headache is relevant at some degree to patient personality characteristics. Key words: Ischemic stroke; Headache; Anxiety; Depression