Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Psychiatry. Sep 19, 2026; 16(9): 118381
Published online Sep 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.118381
Published online Sep 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.118381
Anatomical specificity of post-stroke depression: Subcortical lesions, age-related patterns, and predictors of treatment response
Ju-Xian Gu, Meng-Jun Zhang, Feng-Rong Li, Xia Wang, Shuai-Shuai Li, Department of Encepha
Co-first authors: Ju-Xian Gu and Meng-Jun Zhang.
Author contributions: Gu JX was responsible for overall study integrity and final approval of the version to be published; Gu JX and Zhang MJ contributed equally to this work, conceived and designed the study, supervised the research process, and drafted the manuscript as co-first authors; Li FR and Wang X were responsible for data acquisition, statistical analysis, and interpretation of clinical data; Li SS contributed to literature review, biomarker data management, and manuscript revision for important intellectual content; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
AI contribution statement: No AI tools were used at any stage of manuscript preparation. The authors assume full responsibility for the integrity and scientific validity of this work.
Supported by 2023-2024 Cangzhou Municipal Bureau of Science and Technology, No. 23244102228.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Cangzhou Central Hospital [approval No. 2025-1108-01(z)]. The study protocol complied with the ethical principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki and relevant institutional guidelines.
Informed consent statement: Due to the retrospective design, the use of anonymized routinely collected clinical data, and the absence of any intervention beyond standard clinical care, the requirement for written informed consent was waived by the Ethics Committee of Cangzhou Central Hospital.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict of interest in publishing the manuscript.
Data sharing statement: The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Data are not publicly available due to institutional data protection policies and patient confidentiality requirements.
Corresponding author: Xia Wang, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Encephalopathy I, Hejian Branch of Cangzhou Central Hospital, No. 32 Jingkai Street, Cangzhou 062450, Hebei Province, China. 2099508270@qq.com
Received: January 30, 2026
Revised: February 25, 2026
Accepted: July 15, 2026
Published online: September 19, 2026
Processing time: 205 Days and 22 Hours
Revised: February 25, 2026
Accepted: July 15, 2026
Published online: September 19, 2026
Processing time: 205 Days and 22 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Post-stroke depression is a heterogeneous clinical condition. Modified Soufeng Decoction could significantly improve the anxiety, depression and recovery of neurological function in patients with cerebral infarction when combined with conventional therapy. Treatment response is conditioned by baseline symptom severity, disease duration and vascular comorbidities, thus reinforcing the necessity of early and tailored intervention.