Stroke is an important cause of morbidity and is responsible for 9% of all deaths worldwide. The most frequent neuropsychiatric consequence of stroke is post-stroke depression (PSD). It has been shown to be associated with both impaired recovery and increased mortality. The aim of our study is to determine the benefits of antidepressant prescription after a stroke.

The databases from Medline and PubMed were reviewed for articles related to post-stroke depression (PSD), antidepressant treatment and stroke, post-stroke depression and functional recovery, stroke related impairment.

Antidepressant drugs have been shown to be effective in treating PSD in six double blind randomized studies. Patients treated with antidepressants had better recovery from disability than patients who did not receive antidepressant therapy: it was proved that antidepressant drugs cause an improvement in cognitive skills and functional recovery in PSD patients. In patients with ischemic stroke and moderate to severe motor deficit, the early prescription of fluoxetine with physiotherapy enhanced motor recovery after 3 months. Some studies showed that PSD can be effectively prevented: nortriptyline, fluoxetine, milnacipran and sertraline appeared to be efficacious in preventing depression after stroke and are to use without significant adverse effects in stroke patients.

Antidepressant treatment plays an increasing role in the management of patients with acute stroke. Therefore, early initiation of antidepressant therapy, in non-depressed stroke patients, may reduce the odds for development of PSD, and improve cognitive and functional recovery.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.