Depression Would Likely Occur After Having Stroke, Study Reveals

A study showed that there is a greater risk of depression in patients during the first three months after having the stroke. It is eight times higher than in the reference population without stroke.

The study was printed online by JAMA Psychiatry. It was led by Merete Osler, M.D., D.M.Sc., Ph.D. of Copenhagen University in Denmark and colleagues. The researchers used data associated with seven Danish nationwide registers. They analyzed how risk and risk factors for depression differ between patients with stroke and a reference population without stroke. They also study how depression influences death,

According to Science Daily, the study involved 135,417 patients with stroke. About 34,346 (25.4 percent) of the patients had suffered from depression within two years after stroke and 17, 690 of them had depression in the first three months after stroke. On the other hand, in the reference population of 145,499 people without stroke, about 11,330 (7.8 percent) suffered depression within two years after entering the study and about 2,449 of the total population appeared within the first three months.

Among the main risk factors for patients with depression after stroke and in the reference population are female sex, older age, basic educational attainment, living alone, history of depression, diabetes, and stroke severity. The team also discovered that in both groups there was an increased risk of death from all causes.

The Stroke Foundation stated that about two-thirds of people who had stroke suffered depression at some point time afterwards. Many had depression in the first year after a stroke. The effects of having the stroke in the lives of patients such as changes in independence, relationship, and ability to earn a living ---with the failures may lead to depression. The family members, friends and caregivers of those people who have the stroke may also experience depression.

The study indicates that depression is common in patients with stroke during the first year after diagnosis and those with prior depression or acute stroke is especially at risk. The clinicians should also be aware of this risk that a high rate of deaths can be credited to depression after stroke.