Depressive signs and cognitive performance in patients with a right hemisphere stroke.

PURPOSE This study investigated the influence of suggestive signs of depression (SSD) in right-hemisphere brain-damaged (RHD) patients following a stroke on their cognitive performance measured by a brief neuropsychological assessment battery. METHODS Forty-two adults with RHD after a single episode of stroke and 84 matched controls participated in this study. They were assessed by means of the Geriatric Depression Scale and by Brief Neuropsychological Assessment Battery NEUPSILIN. RESULTS Almost half of the patients showed SSD. The RHD group with SSD (RHD+) showed poorer performance in at least one task among all evaluated cognitive domains (concentrated attention, visual perception, working memory, episodic verbal memory and semantic memory, auditory and written language, constructional praxia and verbal fluency). CONCLUSION The association of depression and RHD seems to enhance the occurrence and the severity of cognitive déficits. A brief neuropsychological assessment can be useful to identify cognitive impairment caused by this neuropsychiatric disorder.