Cerebral infarction is caused by atherosclerosis and blood clots, or abnormal substances entering the bloodstream and blocking the blood vessels, which can also compress the nerves causing damage to the speech center and memory center. Depression can lead to low mood, poor treatment motivation and even suicidal behavior, which seriously affects the recovery of patients, so it needs more attention from contemporary society.
Therefore, we should pay attention to it. Now, our study found that early rehabilitation treatment for such patients can greatly reduce the degree of depression and improve the quality of life in old age, and the results are reported as follows.
1. Information and methods
1.1 General information
Among 150 patients with clinical and CT-confirmed infarction in our hospital between July 2011 and August 2013, 8 patients with critical illness were excluded, and 48 patients with depression were determined by HAMD assessment, and these 48 cases were randomly divided into two groups, 24 cases in each group, 10 males and 14 females in the depression treatment group, aged 64-73 years, with a mean age of (68.3± 4.2);
In the depression control group, there were 17 males and 7 females, aged 62-71 years, with a mean age of (66.4±4.3); another 24 patients were selected among those without depression, as a control group without depression, with 15 males and 9 females, aged 65-74 years, with a mean age of (69.2±4.4). The differences in general data between the groups were not statistically significant (P>0.05) and were comparable.
1.2 Treatment methods
1.2.1 Non-depressed group Given cerebrovascular conventional drugs, antiplatelet drugs and nutritional drugs
1.2.2 Depression control group Same treatment as above
1.2.3 Depression treatment group
In addition to the above drug treatment, rehabilitation treatment is also given.
1.3 Observation index
According to the Hamilton depression scale (HAMD), the depression degree of these 3 groups was tested by professional doctors before treatment, one and a half months and 3 months after treatment.
1.4 Statistical methods
SPSS l5.0 software was applied to analyze the data, and the mean±standard deviation (`X±S) was used to express the measurement data, and t test was used to compare between groups;
P>0.05, the difference is not statistically significant, P<0.05, the difference is statistically significant, P<0.01, the difference is statistically significant.
2, Results
Table 1 Comparison of Hamilton depression scale scores before and after treatment in the three groups
Group
Number of cases
Hamilton depression scale score
Before treatment
One and a half months after treatment
3 months after treatment
No depression group
24
6.78±4.12
6.56±3.89
6.18±3.36
Depressed control group
24
32.56±4.35
31.78±4.21
29.74±5.23
Depression treatment group
24
34.37±3.79
25.72±4.19
16.83±3.24
Note: 1) Comparison between groups before treatment, P>0.05; comparison within groups before and after treatment, P<0.01; comparison between groups after treatment, P<0.05.
3. Discussion
Cerebral infarction is mostly due to the formation of emboli by self-coagulation of cerebral arterial blood in the blood vessels or foreign emboli entering the cerebral blood vessels, further blocking the official lumen of the blood vessels and affecting cerebral blood circulation; causing acute ischemia and hypoxia to occur in the brain tissue in the area supplied by the blocked arteries, and eventually irreversible necrosis [2]. In addition, thromboembolism, severe vascular compression, arterial spasm, and arterial wall tumors also play an important role in infarction.
The sequelae of cerebral infarction in the elderly is one of the refractory diseases that cause limb dysfunction in patients after cerebral infarction and affect their quality of survival. Cerebral infarction is mostly combined with risk factors such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, hyperlipidemia or diabetes mellitus or corresponding systemic nonspecific symptoms. A common cause of myocardial infarction is chest pain, which is commonly triggered by emotional changes, sudden changes in weather, overeating, strenuous activity, extreme exertion, etc. It can also occur without any trigger, such as during sedentary rest that can occur in sleep.
Elderly infarction patients usually have negative emotions such as tension and anxiety because of the seriousness of their condition and the high cost of treatment, which can form depression if they cannot be relieved for a long time. Patients will have typical symptoms such as depressed emotions, slowed thinking, and reduced and delayed speech and movement. Post-infarction depression in the elderly not only affects the rehabilitation of patients, but also seriously disturbs their life and work, and brings a heavy burden to the family and society.
In order to improve patients’ depressive symptoms and allow them to recover as soon as possible, it is therefore essential to provide early rehabilitation treatment for patients. First, the patient’s bad mood is relieved through psychological counseling to reduce the patient’s psychological burden. Then, according to the patient’s recovery situation, the patient is instructed to conduct rehabilitation training, such as letting the patient’s upper and lower limbs move in bed, practicing turning and sitting, standing and balancing training, and then gradually increasing the difficulty, letting the patient walk, climbing stairs and other training, gradually cultivating the patient’s ability to take care of himself.
With the gradual recovery of the patient’s mobility, not only did the patient’s depression improve, but also brought the patient’s confidence to overcome the disease, which made the patient actively cooperate with the rehabilitation treatment and improved the treatment effect. The results of this study showed that the HAMD scores of patients after using early rehabilitation therapy were significantly lower than those before treatment, which was statistically significant (P<0.05).
Therefore, early rehabilitation treatment for patients with depression after infarction is effective, can significantly improve patients’ depressive symptoms, accelerate their recovery and improve their quality of life, and can be widely used in clinical treatment.