Physical and Psychological Symptoms After Stroke: Longitudinal Symptom Prevalence and Network Analysis

Stroke survivors experience physical and psychological symptoms. However, long-term symptom prevalence and symptom associations have not been extensively studied. The current study aimed to assess the prevalence of physical and psychological symptoms across four years after stroke and to evaluate the relationship between these symptoms. We conducted a secondary analysis of a prospective, clinical, observational study. Physical (pain, fatigue, and physical impairment) and psychological (loss of interest, depressed mood, anxiety, and worry) symptoms were assessed using the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement Standard Set for Stroke and the Patient Health Questionnaire for Depression and Anxiety three months, one year, two years, three years, and four years after hospital admission. We evaluated the prevalence of these symptoms across time and conducted a network analysis using panel vector autoregressive modeling. Physical impairment and fatigue had the highest prevalence in the sample. Psychological symptoms were also consistently observed, however, at a lower prevalence. There was no reduction in any symptom's prevalence across the course of four years after stroke. Furthermore, psychological and physical symptoms were associated with each other. Physical impairment was most strongly associated with the other symptoms, and anxiety symptoms preceded depressive symptoms. Thus, despite established follow-up care in Germany, symptoms persisted for years after stroke. Further, the observed symptom associations suggest the need to investigate the impact of physical symptoms on psychological distress. Our findings emphasize the need to prevent and treat persisting physical and psychological symptoms after stroke.