Cognitive Functions of Patients with Post Stroke Depression: Comparative Study on Executive Functions, Processing Speed, and Episodic Memory

Abstract

Background: Post-stroke cognitive impairment (PCI) and depression (PSD) are among the most common sequelae of cerebrovascular accidents (CVA). The current study aimed to investigate the cognitive impairment of CVA and PSD patients in comparison with healthy controls (HC). Methods: A total of 60 volunteers (mean age, 62.98 [SD=3.98], 48.3% male) were recruited, with 20 participants in each group. Participants completed several standardized assessments, including the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Mini-Mental State Examination, Abbreviated Mental Test, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and Depression in old Age Scale. The neuropsychological part of the evaluation was designed to investigate executive functions, processing speed, and episodic memory. Results: Analysis of variance revealed that the performance of all three study groups did not differ in easy tasks of spatial planning, working memory, and episodic memory. However, the PSD group performed medium difficulty tasks worse than the CVA patients and HC group. The HC group, on the other hand, exhibited better performance on complex tasks of these cognitive domains compared to other groups. Moreover, the complex tasks of spatial planning and medium difficulty tasks of working and episodic memory were able to distinguish between CVA and PSD groups. Additionally, the processing speed was found to be superior in HC group than both CVA and PSD groups (p<0.05). Conclusions: The findings emphasize the importance of early identification and cognitive enhancement of CVA and PSD survivors. Innovative cognitive rehabilitation and psychological interventions targeting these populations are essential to advance long-term patient-centered outcomes in the management of CVA services.