Lateralization of Dementia of Depression in Stroke Patients.

In a group of stroke patients with left-hemisphere lesions, those with major depression performed significantly below nondepressed patients on four of nine cognitive domains examined with a neuropsychological test battery. Among patients with right-hemisphere stroke, those with major depression did not perform below nondepressed patients on any of the nine cognitive domains. The differential effect of depression on cognitive performance between left- and right-hemisphere lesion groups could not be accounted for by demographic variables, neurological symptoms, lesion location, or lesion size. Poststroke major depression appeared to produce a decline in cognitive performance or dementia of depression that depended on the laterality of the lesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]