The effects of post-stroke depression on working memory

Abstract

Objective To explore the effects of post-stroke depression on working memory,aiming to find a new method for alleviating the dysfunction in post-stroke depression patients.Methods Eighteen patients with poststroke depression and 20 stroke survivors with no depression were recruited as the experimental and control groups respectively.Both groups' working memory was tested early every morning.The two groups' performance was compared in terms of each working memory test item and their results were correlated with their scores on the Hamilton depression scale (HAMD).Results The average HAMD score was 21.78 ± 3.21 for the experimental group and 5.06 ±2.35 for the control group.Compared with the control group,the experimental group was significantly different in its performance counting backward,in its word memory span and its calculation task span,as well as in successive subtraction.At the same time,compared with the control,the experimental group was significantly better in total reaction number and the percentage of number of right reaction of the number of total reaction of Digit Subtraction Test.The HAMD scores of the experimental group were negatively correlated with their performance in counting backward,their word memory span,their successive subtraction performance and their calculation task span.Conclusion Poststroke depression has an obvious negative effect on working memory. Key words: Post-stroke depression; Working memory