• Mathilde Hedlund, Maria Zetterling, Elisabeth Ronne-Engström, Marianne Carlsson, and Lisa Ekselius.
• Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
• Br J Neurosurg. 2011 Dec 1; 25 (6): 693-700.

IntroductionLittle is known about the roles that lifetime psychiatric disorders play in psychiatric and vocational outcomes of aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH).Materials And MethodsEighty-three SAH patients without apparent cognitive dysfunction were assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV axis I disorders (SCID-I) after their SAH. Diagnoses were assessed for three time periods, 'lifetime before SAH', '12 months before SAH' and '7 months after SAH'.ResultsForty-five percentage of patients with SAH reported at least one lifetime psychiatric disorder. After SAH, symptoms of depression and/or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were seen in 41%, more often in those with a psychiatric history prior to SAH (p = 0.001). In logistic regressions, depression after SAH was associated with a lifetime history of major depression, or of anxiety or substance use disorder, as well as with lifetime psychiatric comorbidity. Subsyndromal or full PTSD was predicted by a lifetime history of major depression. After the SAH, 18 patients (22%) had received psychotropic medication and/or psychological treatment, 13 of whom had a disorder. Those with a lifetime history of major depression or treatment with antidepressants before SAH had lower return to work rates than others (p = 0.019 and p = 0.031, respectively). This was also true for those with symptoms of depression and/or PTSD, or with antidepressant treatment after SAH (p = 0.001 and p = 0.031, respectively).ConclusionsDepression and PTSD are present in a substantial proportion of patients 7 months after SAH. Those with a history of psychiatric morbidity, any time before the SAH, are more at risk and also constitute a risk group for difficulties in returning to work.

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