Abstract: Objective To study the correlation of the serum homocysteine (Hcy) levels and young patients with post-stroke depression. Methods 80 cases of stroke patients (incidence 3 weeks) from 18 to 45 years old were selected who had been diagnosed and were treated from September, 2011 to November, 2013 in the outpatient of our hospital as the subjects of study. Among them, 35 cases with post-stroke depression were in Group A, the left 45 cases with post-stroke depression who had not been occurred in Group B, 35 cases of healthy people served as normal reference group. The serum homocysteine levels between Group A, B and the reference group were compared. According to HAMD score, the severity of depression in Group A were assessed, it was divided into mild depression, moderate depression and severe depression subgroup, then compared the serum homocysteine levels among the three subgroups. Results Compared with normal reference group, Hcy levels of Group A and B were signiifcantly higher, the difference was statistically signiifcant. Hcy levels of the three groups were compared respectively, all of the differences were statistically signiifcant. The Hcy levels of the mild, moderate and severe depression group in Group A were increased with the increase of HAMD score.The degree of depression and homocysteine levels were positively correlated (r=0.7545, P<0.05). Conclusion The occurrence of stroke and post-stroke depression in young adults were related with the Hcy levels of serum, and the higher of the Hcy levels is , the more severe degrees of depression are.

Key words: young adults, post-stroke depression, serum homocysteine