Prevalence of Depression Among Stroke Survivors: Racial-Ethnic Differences

Although poststroke depression is common, racial-ethnic disparities in depression among stroke survivors remain underexplored. Thus, we investigated the relationship between race/ethnicity and depression in a multiracial-ethnic stroke cohort.

Baseline survey data of validated scales of depression and functional status, demographics, comorbidities, and socioeconomic status were used from a recurrent stroke prevention study among community-dwelling urban stroke/transient ischemic attack survivors.

The cohort included 556 participants with a mean age of 64 years. The majorities were black (44%) or latino (42%) and female (60%), had their last stroke/transient ischemic attack nearly 2 years before study enrollment, and lived below the poverty level (58%). Nearly 1 in 2 latinos, 1 in 4 blacks, and 1 in 8 whites were depressed. Multivariate logistic regression showed that survivors who were younger, were female, had ≥3 comorbid conditions, were functionally disabled from stroke, lacked emotional-social support, and who took antidepressants before study entry had higher risk of depression. Time since last stroke/transient ischemic attack did not affect the chance of depression. After adjusting for all above risk factors, latinos had 3× the odds of depression (95% confidence interval: 1.18-6.35) than whites; blacks and whites had similar odds of depression.

This study reveals that latino stroke survivors have a significantly higher prevalence of depression compared with their non-latino counterparts.