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A Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion Technique for Inducing Post-stroke Depression in Rats
04:38

A Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion Technique for Inducing Post-stroke Depression in Rats

Published on: May 22, 2019

Cardiac disease, depressive symptoms, and incident stroke in an elderly population

Lonneke Wouts1, Richard C Oude Voshaar, Marijke A Bremmer

  • 1Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. L.Wouts@psy.umcn.nl

Archives of General Psychiatry
|May 7, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Depression increases stroke risk, especially in cardiac patients. Baseline depressive symptoms and their severity and chronicity significantly predict stroke incidence in those with preexistent heart disease.

Area of Science:

  • Gerontology
  • Epidemiology
  • Psychiatry

Background:

  • Previous studies indicate depression as a stroke risk factor, but often lack comprehensive data on pre-existing cardiovascular disease and depression severity.
  • This study addresses limitations in prior research by examining depression as a stroke risk factor in a well-characterized cohort.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine if clinically relevant depressive symptoms are an independent risk factor for incident stroke in both cardiac and non-cardiac patients.
  • To investigate the association between the chronicity and severity of depressive symptoms and the risk of incident stroke.

Main Methods:

  • A 9-year longitudinal study of 2965 elderly Dutch individuals (aged >= 55) without prior stroke history.
  • Depression assessed using the National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule and Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale.
  • Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were used to evaluate stroke incidence and the impact of symptom chronicity and severity.

Main Results:

  • Clinically relevant depressive symptoms at baseline and symptom severity/chronicity during follow-up were associated with increased stroke risk in participants with pre-existing cardiac disease.
  • The interaction between cardiac disease and depressive symptoms significantly improved the stroke prediction model (P = .03).
  • No significant association was found between depressive symptoms and stroke risk in participants without pre-existing cardiac disease.

Conclusions:

  • Pre-existing cardiac disease is a significant moderator in the relationship between depressive symptoms and incident stroke.
  • In cardiac patients, depressive symptoms present at baseline, as well as their severity and persistence over time, are independently associated with a higher risk of stroke.
Abstract

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