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.
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