Post-stroke Triage "DOC": Simple Screening for Depression, Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Cognitive Impairment

We have created a simple screening tool (the "DOC" Screen) that will be routinely applied to all patients at a high-volume Regional Stroke Prevention Clinic. Consenting patients will also undergo "gold standard" research assessments in order to determine the diagnostic characteristics of the screen compared to gold standard research assessments.The proportion of eligible patients who complete DOC screening and the time for completion (mean, range, standard deviations) will be calculated from aggregated data for all new consults in the stroke prevention clinic. For patients who consented to undergo gold standard testing, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and likelihood ratios of the DOC screen will be calculated. Screening cut-points will be optimized using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) and area under the curve analysis, and logistic regression will be applied to this ROC Curve analysis to control for variables such as age, sex, BMI and education. We hope to develop a pragmatic approach to screening the large, high-risk stroke prevention clinic population, allowing broad screening for these important health conditions. This could change routine standard of care across stroke prevention clinics and facilitate early identification and appropriate assessment of patients.

Inclusion criteria

• Attending outpatient TIA and Stroke Prevention Clinics at any of the three regional stroke centres.

Exclusion criteria

• Those who are unable to complete the screen complete the screen due to severe aphasia, severe motor dysfunction and those who are not fluent in English without translation available.