Depression in vascular dementia.

OBJECTIVE

To study the presence of different dimensions of depression in subjects with vascular dementia.

BACKGROUND

After a stroke, cognitive, affective and behavioural disturbances are common. It has been suggested that the nature of affective symptomatology can help to differentiate organic from psychological depression.

METHODS

Cognitive and affective symptoms were assessed in 78 stroke patients and a principal component analysis was performed on these symptoms. Also, a discriminant analysis was carried out to establish the contribution of different symptoms on the diagnosis 'depressive disorder' and 'dementia'.

RESULTS

(1) Principal component analysis revealed three distinct sub-syndromes: one with predominantly mood symptoms, one with essentially psychomotor symptoms, and one with vegetative symptoms; (2) mood, psychomotor and vegetative symptoms were all independently and strongly related to a diagnosis of major depressive disorder according to DSM-III-R criteria; (3) the psychomotor factor was also firmly associated with dementia; and (4) discriminant analysis gave further support for our conclusion that some of the depressive features, in particular the psychomotor factor, are at least partly related to the organic brain damage from stroke.

CONCLUSION

The results indicate that different dimensions of depression could be discerned in a group of stroke patients and that the symptom profile of depression in these patients can be affected by the presence of dementia.