title: The Stroke Outcomes Study 2 (SOS2): a prospective, analytic cohort study of depressive symptoms after stroke.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mood disorder is recognised as an important and common problem after stroke but little is known about the longer term effects of mood on functional outcomes. This protocol paper describes the Stroke Outcomes Study 2 (SOS2), a research study conducted in two large acute NHS Trusts in the North of England, which was designed to investigate the impact of early depressive symptoms on outcomes after an acute stroke.
  
  
  METHODS
  SOS2 was a prospective cohort study that aimed to recruit patients in the first few weeks after a stroke, and to follow them up at regular intervals for one year thereafter in order to describe the trajectory of psychological symptoms and study their impact on physical functional recovery. Measures of mood and function were completed at baseline (approximately 3 weeks) and at four follow-up time-points: approximately 9, 13, 26 and 52 weeks after the index stroke.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Recruiting patients to research studies soon after an acute stroke is difficult. Mortality following stroke is approximately 30% and in the region of half the patients that survive the initial event are significantly disabled. Together these factors reduced the number of patients available to participate in SOS2 but once recruited to the study the drop-out rate was relatively low. During the recruitment period over 6000 admissions for stroke or query stroke were screened for eligibility. A cohort of 592 study participants was finally achieved.
authors.affiliation: Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, The University of Leeds, Charles Thackrah Building, Leeds, UK. K.M.Hill@leeds.ac.uk
authors.forename: Kate M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: West
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hewison
authors.forename: Allan O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: House
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001007:Anxiety; D003071:Cognition; D003863:Depression / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D020127:Recovery of Function; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D006113:United Kingdom
chemical_list: D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation