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Post‐stroke pathological crying: frequency and correlation to depression
Author(s) -
Andersen G.,
Vestergaard K.,
IngemanNielsen M.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
european journal of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.881
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1468-1331
pISSN - 1351-5101
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-1331.1995.tb00092.x
Subject(s) - crying , stroke (engine) , depression (economics) , medicine , pathological , mood , mood disorders , population , lesion , pediatrics , surgery , psychiatry , anxiety , mechanical engineering , environmental health , engineering , economics , macroeconomics
While pathological crying has classically been described as a disturbance of the motor concomitants of emotional affect that is unrelated to mood, recent studies indicate that there may in fact be a correlation. We therefore undertook a study of post‐stroke pathological crying in relation to mood score/depression and lesion site in an unselected stroke population the first year following stroke. The study population comprised 211 patients with first ever stroke (median age 69 years, range 25–80). The patients were included in the study within 7 days of the onset of stroke, and follow‐up examinations were made at 1 month, 6 months and 1 year. Computerized tomography brain scans were obtained on Days 5–10. The frequency of pathological crying was 14% at 1 month, 10% at 6 months and 11% at 1 year. The overall 1 year incidence was 19%. Pathological crying correlated significantly to mood score and post‐stroke depression ( p < 0.005), as well as to lesion size (p < 0.05), Barthel Index ( p < 0.05), Motricity Index ( p < 0.005) and intellectual impairment ( p < 0.05), but not to lesion location, sex, age, history of stroke or depression, predisposing disease or social distress before the stroke incident Post‐stroke pathological crying was common and persistent in 11% of patients at 1 year and correlated strongly to mood score and post‐stroke depression. The indication for treatment of pathological crying is therefore further strengthened.