People with symptoms of depression more likely to suffer acute stroke, study finds

People with symptoms of depression are more likely to suffer an acute stroke and have a worse recovery afterwards, according to new research from an academic at the University of Galway.

The findings are part of a study called Interstroke, which has been published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The global study involved 26,877 adults with an average age of 62, across 32 countries including participants in Europe, Asia, North and South America, the Middle East and Africa.

Participants with stroke were matched to controls who had not suffered a stroke, but were similar in age, gender, racial or ethnic identity.

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The study found 18 per cent of those who had a stroke had symptoms of depression compared with 14 per cent of controls who did not have a stroke.

After adjusting for age, sex, education, physical activity and other lifestyle factors, people with depressive symptoms before stroke had a 46 per cent increased risk of stroke compared with those with no depressive symptoms.

Furthermore, the more symptoms of depression participants had, the higher their risk of stroke. Participants who reported five or more depressive symptoms had a 54 per cent higher risk of stroke than those with no symptoms.

Those who reported three to four depressive symptoms and those who reported one or two symptoms of depression had 58 per cent and 35 per cent higher risk respectively.

While people with symptoms of depression were not more likely to have more severe strokes, they were more likely to have worse functional outcomes one month after the stroke than those without depressive symptoms.

Dr Robert P Murphy, the study author and consultant stroke physician and researcher at the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at University of Galway, said the study provides a broad picture of the links between stroke and symptoms of depression.

“Depression affects people around the world and can have a wide range of impacts across a person’s life,” he said.

“Our study provides a broad picture of depression and its link to risk of stroke by looking at a number of factors including participants’ symptoms, life choices and antidepressant use.

“Our results show depressive symptoms were linked to increased stroke risk and the risk was similar across different age groups and around the world.”