Post-stroke arrhythmia could be a potential predictor for post-stroke depression

Post-stroke depression (PSD) is regarded as the consequence of multiple contributors involving the process of cognition, mood and autonomic system, with the specific mechanism unclear yet. As a common type of stroke-heart syndromes, post-stroke arrhythmia shared some common pathogenesis with PSD. We presumed that post-stroke arrhythmia might be an early distinguishable marker for the presence of PSD and aimed to verity their association in this study. Patients with first-ever ischemic stroke were enrolled. The presence of post-stroke ectopic arrhythmia and the symptoms of arrhythmia were recorded with anti-arrhythmia drugs prescribed when necessary. Patients were followed up 3 months later to identify their presence and severity of PSD using Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD) and also presence and severity of arrhythmia. Characteristics including the prevalence of various types of arrhythmias were compared between PSD and non-PSD groups. The HAMD scores were compared between patients with and without arrhythmia in PSD group. Logistic regression was used to identify the independent predictor of PSD. Patients with PSD had higher prevalence of post-stroke arrhythmia especially newly-detected arrhythmia, symptomatic arrhythmia and poor-controlled arrhythmia. In PSD group, patients of post-stroke arrhythmia had higher scores of HAMD than those without arrhythmia. Presence of newly-detected, symptomatic and poor-controlled arrhythmias were independent predictor of PSD. post-stroke arrhythmia especially newly-detected arrhythmia and symptomatic arrhythmia could be an early predictor of PSD. Successful control of arrhythmia was associated with reduced prevalence and severity of PSD.