Many Stroke Survivors Experience Poststroke Depression

TUESDAY, April 16, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Nearly six in 10 stroke survivors experience depression up to 18 years after stroke, according to a study published online March 25 in The Lancet Regional Health: Europe.

Lu Liu, from King’s College London, and colleagues examined the prevalence, incidence, duration, and recurrence rates of depression up to 18 years after stroke. The analysis included 3,864 patients identified from the South London Stroke Register (1995 to 2019).

The researchers found that prevalence of poststroke depression (PSD) ranged from 31.3 to 41.5 percent. The cumulative incidence of depression was 59.4 percent, with 87.9 percent of cases occurring within five years after stroke. Among patients with incident PSD within three months after stroke, 46.6 percent recovered after one year. Two-thirds of those who recovered experienced recurrent depression, and 94.4 percent of recurrences occurred within five years since recovery. Just over one-third of patients with severe depression (34.3 percent) had recovered at the next time point versus 56.7 percent with mild depression. Compared with those with mild depression, the recurrence rate at one year after recovery was higher in patients with severe depression (52.9 versus 23.5 percent).

“More clinical attention should be paid to patients with depression that is longer than one year because of the high risks of experiencing persistent depression,” Liu said in a statement.

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