Psychiatric comorbidity and quality of life in patients with post-stroke emotional incontinence.
OBJECTIVE
We aimed to investigate the associations of post-stroke emotional incontinence (PSEI) with various psychiatric symptoms and quality of life independent of potential covariates in survivors of acute stroke.


METHODS
A total of 423 stroke patients were assessed within 2 weeks of the index event. Psychiatric symptoms were assessed by the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R), which has nine domains comprising Somatization, Obsessive-Compulsive, Interpersonal Sensitivity, Depression, Anxiety, Hostility, Phobic Anxiety, Paranoid Ideation, and Psychoticism. Quality of life was measured using the World Health Organization Quality of Life abbreviated form (WHOQOL-BREF), which has four domains related to physical factors, psychological factors, social relationships, and environmental context. Associations of PSEI with scores on the SCL-90-R and WHOQOL-BREF were investigated using pairwise logistic regression model adjustment for potential sociodemographic and clinical covariates.


RESULTS
PSEI was present in 51 (12.1%) patients. PSEI was associated with the Obsessive-Compulsive, Interpersonal Sensitivity, and Hostility symptom dimensions of the SCL-90-R and with the psychological factors and social relationships domains of the WHOQOL-BREF independent of important covariates including previous stroke, stroke severity, and physical disability.


CONCLUSIONS
PSEI causes some aspects of psychiatric distress and negatively affects psychological and interpersonal quality of life. For patients with PSEI, special attention to psychiatric comorbidity and quality of life is needed, even in the acute stage of stroke.
Department of Psychiatry, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Dong-Ho
DH
Choi
Department of Psychiatry, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Bo-Ok
BO
Jeong
Department of Psychiatry, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Hee-Ju
HJ
Kang
Department of Psychiatry, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Sung-Wan
SW
Kim
Department of Psychiatry, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Jae-Min
JM
Kim
Department of Psychiatry, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Il-Seon
IS
Shin
Department of Neurology, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Joon-Tae
JT
Kim
Department of Neurology, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Man-Seok
MS
Park
Department of Neurology, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Ki-Hyun
KH
Cho
Department of Psychiatry, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Jin-Sang
JS
Yoon
Emotional lability; Psychiatric comorbidity; Quality of life; Stroke