Geriatric depression, medical diagnosis, and functional recovery during acute rehabilitation.
OBJECTIVE
To examine and compare the prevalence and functional impact of depressive symptoms for older adult stroke and nonstroke rehabilitation inpatients.


METHODS
Case-control study examining functional outcome using a 2 (stroke, nonstroke) by 2 (depression, no depression) design.


METHODS
Urban hospital rehabilitation unit.


METHODS
A total of 509 rehabilitation inpatients (age, > or = 60 y) were included and grouped by diagnosis of stroke (n=207) and nonstroke (n=302).


METHODS
Not applicable.


METHODS
Geriatric Depression Scale and FIM instrument. Analysis of covariance procedures examined the impact of depressive symptoms on discharge functional ability controlling for age, sex, admission functional ability, and hospital length of stay.


RESULTS
Prevalence of depressive symptoms was similar for stroke (31.8%) and nonstroke (31.5%) and negatively associated with functional ability at discharge for both groups. Overall, the stroke and nonstroke groups did not differ significantly with respect to functional recovery.


CONCLUSIONS
Depression, and its impact on acute rehabilitation, is significantly related to functional recovery but does not differ in its frequency or impact for stroke patients. Because depressive symptoms do not appear to discriminate across diagnostic groups, routine screening for depression is recommended for all rehabilitation inpatients.
Cully
Jeffrey A
JA
Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA. jcully@bcm.tmc.edu
Gfeller
Jeffrey D
JD
Heise
Richard A
RA
Ross
Michael J
MJ
Teal
Cayla R
CR
Kunik
Mark E
ME
D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012046:Rehabilitation / Q000523:psychology*; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology