Chronic posttraumatic stress symptoms after nonsevere stroke.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-related symptoms were present 1 year after a nonsevere stroke and, if so, to examine the relationship between PSTD, coexisting cognitive variables, and infarct localization


METHODS
The authors assessed 49 patients using standard measures of memory, trauma experience, neurologic deficit, depression, anxiety, and PTSD.


RESULTS
Fifteen (31%) patients had significant PTSD symptoms on the Impact of Event Scale (IES > 30). PTSD-like syndrome was independent of neurologic impairment, peristroke amnesia, long-term memory impairment, nosognosia, hypochondriac preoccupations, and physical pain during hospitalization, but was more frequent in women, less educated patients, and patients with more negative appraisals of the stroke experience. Intrusions were increased after basal ganglia strokes, suggesting that the re-experiencing phenomena may be modulated by frontosubcortical pathways.


CONCLUSIONS
Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms seem frequent in patients with nonsevere stroke and were associated with the subjective intensity of the stroke experience and accompanied by a depressive and anxious state.
Bruggimann
L
L
Service of Neurology, University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland. lbruggimann@yahoo.fr
Annoni
J M
JM
Staub
F
F
von Steinbüchel
N
N
Van der Linden
M
M
Bogousslavsky
J
J
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000209:etiology*; D020521:Stroke / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires