Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33527880›Full record

ReviewInternational journal of stroke : official journal of the International Stroke Society2021

Apathy after stroke: Diagnosis, mechanisms, consequences, and treatment.

Jonathan Tay, Robin G Morris, Hugh S Markus

Open access · hybridAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in International journal of stroke : official journal of the International Stroke Society, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 61 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
61citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
11.9field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

61 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 135 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Apathy and Physical Activity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Physiotherapy Canada. Physiotherapie Canada · 2026
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1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Jonathan TayStroke Research Group, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-0598-0004
Robin G MorrisDepartment of Psychology, King's College London, London, UK.
Hugh S MarkusStroke Research Group, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
University of Cambridge · GBKing's College London · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Apathy is a reduction in goal-directed activity in the cognitive, behavioral, emotional, or social domains of a patient's life and occurs in one out of three patients after stroke. Despite this, apathy is clinically under-recognized and poorly understood. This overview provides a contemporary introduction to apathy in stroke for researchers and practitioners, covering topics including diagnosis, neurobiological mechanisms, associated consequences, and potential treatments for apathy. Apathy is often misdiagnosed as other post-stroke conditions such as depression. Accurate differential diagnosis of apathy, which manifests as reductions in initiative, and depression, which manifests as negative emotionality, is important as it informs prognosis. Research on the neurobiology of apathy suggests that there are few consistent associations between stroke lesion location and the development of apathy. These may be resolved by adopting a network neuroscience approach, which models apathy as a pathology arising from structural or functional damage to brain networks underlying motivated behavior. Importantly, networks can be affected by physiological changes related to stroke, including the acute infarct but also diaschisis and neurodegeneration. Aside from neurobiological changes, apathy is also associated with other negative outcome measures such as functional disability, cognitive impairment, and emotional distress, suggesting that apathy is indicative of a worse prognosis following stroke. Unfortunately, high-quality trials aimed at treating apathy are scarce. Antidepressants may have limited effects on apathy. Acetylcholine and dopamine pharmacotherapy, behavioral interventions, and transcranial magnetic stimulation may be more promising avenues for treatment.

Indexed as

ApathyCognitive DysfunctionStrokeBrainEmotionsHumansApathydepressiondiagnosisneurobiologyoutcomesstroketreatment

Identifiers

PMID33527880
PMCPMC8267086
OpenAlexW3122663351

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.