纽约（路透社健康消息）——中风后长期存活的患者常常合并抑郁症，但是一项新研究报道，这些人中很少有人能够得到对症治疗。
中风后抑郁症不仅降低生活质量，而且与死亡有关。但人们对该症的患病率和治疗情况却知之甚少，来自维多利亚的澳大利亚国家中风研究所的Seana L. Paul及其同事在《中风》杂志上撰文写道。
他们收集了441名中风后5年存活患者的数据，并对此进行分析。存活患者中大约一半是女性，平均年龄为74岁。采用标准的问卷测试，对其中的289名进行了抑郁症评定。
研究者鉴定其中大约17%的中风后患者患有抑郁症。这些患有抑郁症的病人中仅22%接受了抗抑郁治疗。 接受抗抑郁治疗的患者中28%仍存在抑郁症状。而接受抗抑郁治疗的大部分患者抑郁症状消失，paul在文章中说，这提供了直接证据说明抗抑郁疗法能够有效治疗中风患者的抑郁症。
研究者指出，没有抑郁症的中风后存活患者与那些有抑郁症的患者相比，存活时间更长而且生活质量更高，因此使医生、患者本人及其家属了解中风后抑郁症的危险性，可能增加对抑郁症的诊断从而使患者得到恰当的治疗。
Depression often goes untreated after a stroke
Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:38 PM BST
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Depression is common among long-term stroke survivors, but few receive treatment for this condition, according to a new report.
Depression after a stroke has been linked to reduced quality of life and death, but relatively little is known regarding its prevalence or treatment, lead author Seana L. Paul, from the National Stroke Research Institute in Victoria, Australia, and colleagues note in the journal Stroke.
Their analysis included data on 441 patients who were 5-year stroke survivors. Roughly half of the survivors were female and the average age was 74 years. Depression was assessed in 289 of the subjects using a standard questionnaire-based test.
The investigators identified depression in 17 percent of the group. Just 22 percent of depressed patients were taking an antidepressant medication.
Twenty-eight percent of patients taking antidepressants still showed evidence of depression. Conversely, "The majority of (patients) taking antidepressant medication were not depressed," Paul said in a statement. "This provides indirect evidence that antidepressants are effective in treating depression in stroke patients."
It's known that stroke survivors who are not depressed live longer and have higher-quality lives than those who are depressed, the researcher pointed out. "Consequently, educating physicians, stroke survivors and their families about the risk of depression after stroke may increase identification of depression and lead to improved treatment."
SOURCE: Stroke, online September 28, 2006.
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