March 9, 2023 – People with depression could have a better risk of getting a stroke and greater difficulty recovering from it, in line with a brand new study.
The results of the INTERSTROKE study were published within the journal neurologyAround 27,000 people took part, including people from 32 countries world wide.
The average age of the study participants was 62 years. About half of them had a confirmed stroke. These people were compared with similar individuals who had not had a stroke. Participants answered questionnaires about risk aspects for heart disease, comparable to hypertension and diabetes. The researchers also asked about symptoms of depression.
According to the study, 18 percent of participants who had suffered a stroke showed symptoms of depression, in comparison with 14 percent of participants and not using a stroke.
“After adjusting for age, gender, education, physical activity and other lifestyle factors, people with pre-stroke depression symptoms had a 46% increased risk of stroke compared to people without depression symptoms,” News from Neuroscience reported.
The risk increased if more symptoms of depression were present. People who had five or more symptoms had a 54% higher risk of stroke than individuals with no symptoms.
“In this global study, we found that depressive symptoms are an important risk factor for acute stroke, both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke,” said study writer Robert P. Murphy of the University of Galway in Ireland.
“Our findings show that depression symptoms can impact mental health but also increase the risk of stroke. Clinicians should be alert to these depression symptoms and can use this information to guide health initiatives to prevent stroke.”