Possible interpretation of subjective complaints in patients with spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage

Abstract

Change in social support network may be an important resource for increasing quality of life in patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage not only through help provided by supporters but also indirectly, through increasing subjective well-being. The absence of subjective complaints in patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage is not necessarily related to better objective condition but rather to inadequately optimistic life orientation.

Prevalence and Determinants of Cognitive Complaints after Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

“…Similarly, cognitive impairments most often concerned memory, and less often executive and visuospatial functioning [20,21], and rarely attention, which is in line with previous findings in SAH [6,20,21,22]. …”

“…In this study only weak associations between cognitive complaints and potentially underlying cognitive impairments were found, which has been described earlier for SAH [5,6], ischemic stroke [23], and patients with traumatic brain injury [7]. The discrepancy between cognitive complaints and impairments might be due to different factors.…”

“…Only one third of the cognitive complaints found in our study could be explained by underlying cognitive impairments, the presence of depressive symptoms, and the level of (physical) disability. Other factors, such as social support, personality characteristics, physical function, and fatigue might also be considered as predictors of these cognitive complaints in future studies [6,7]. …”

“…Previous studies in patients with SAH on associations between cognitive impairments and cognitive complaints revealed only weak associations [5] or no significant associations at all [6]. Physical functioning and emotional problems such as depression and anxiety might influence the perceived cognitive dysfunction [7].…”

Cognitive and Functional Outcome After Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

“…Discordance between self-reported cognitive deficits and results from objective cognitive tests has also been reported in other domains, like memory. 38,39 This discrepancy may be attributed to patients misinterpreting their cognitive deficits as impairments of attention and memory. Executive dysfunction after aSAH is more pronounced in older patients, those with fewer years of education, and those with poorer neurological grade on admission.…”