Post-stroke aggressive behavior in patients wıth first-ever ischemic stroke: underlying clinical and imaging factors

Background

Aggression is defined as a complex behavior consisting of a combination of sensory, emotional, cognitive and motor elements. We aimed to examine the relationships between post-stroke aggressive behavior (PSAB) and neuropsychological and neuroimaging findings.

Methods

380 patients in the stroke unit were classified as aggressive or non-aggressive based on symptoms elicited by the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) and aggression screening questionnaire.

Results

Aggressive behavior was detected in 42 (11.1%) of 380 patients who had a first ischemic stroke. Patients with PSAB were older than those without (338 patients) (66.98 + 13.68 vs. 62.61 + 13.06, P = 0.043). Hamilton depression and anxiety scales showed significantly higher rates of depression and anxiety in the PSAB group compared to the non-PSAB group (47.6% vs. 16.3% and 57.1% vs. 15.4%, respectively; P = 0.001). Lesion mapping analysis showed that lesions in patients with PSAB mostly included the lower parietal lobe and lateral frontal gyrus. Multiple regression analysis showed that gender (OR, 2.81; CI%, 1.24–6.39), lateral prefrontal infarction (OR, 6.43; CI%, 1.51–27.44), parietal infarction (OR, 2.98; CI%, 1.15–7.76), occipital infarction (OR, 2.84; CI%, 1.00–8.06), multiple infarcts (OR, 5.62; CI%, 2.27–13.93), anxiety (OR, 2.06; CI%, 0.89–4.81) and verbal memory deficit (OR, 4.21; CI%, 1.37–12.93) were significant independent predictors of PSAB.

Conclusion

The presence of PSAB may be related to neuropsychiatric symptoms such as high anxiety and verbal memory impairment, and neuroanatomical location of the lesions.