Abstract
In 2003, the Japan Stroke Scale-Depression Scale (JSS-D) was estabished by the Japan Stroke Society for evaluating mood disorders after stroke, especially post-stroke depression (PSD). In order to determine a strategy for the appropriate and easy diagnosis of PSD, 50 consecutive patients, who were hospitalized at Dokkyo University Hospital, were examined in terms of the prevalence and validity of evaluation at the subacute stage of stroke. We employed several different depression scales for the evaluation of PSD including the international neuropsychiatric interview based on DSM-IV (MINI), Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D) and JSS-D. In addition, we used the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Geriatric Depression Score (GDS) as self-reported depression scales which have been applied traditionally for bedside diagnosis. As a result, the prevalence of PSD as estimated using the MINI and HAM-D was around 16% at the subacute stage, and the strongest correlation was between the JSS-D and HAM-D in comparison with other depression scales. As a marker for the diagnosis of PSD, JSS-D was thus recognized as the best scale for diagnosing PSD due to its satisfactory reliability in comparison with other scales. Our data suggested that the JSS-D should be employed firstly for the clinical diagnosis of PSD. In addition, selected items of the SDS may also be useful for the diagnosis of PSD, since the SDS has the advantage of being a pure questionnaire.
