Those who suffer symptoms of depression are at an increased risk of stroke, according to researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and
Those who suffer symptoms of depression are at an increased risk of stroke, according to researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In particular, depressed African Americans showed the largest increase in stroke risk.
Those people with the highest levels of depression had a 73% increase in their risk of stroke. However, it is not clear if the depression actually caused the stroke, or if some unknown factor related to stroke risk prompted depression prior to the event.
"Our results show that everybody who suffers depression should be concerned about their stroke risk, not just those with high levels of depression," Dr. Bruce S. Jonas of the Center for Advancement of Health at the CDC in Hyattsville, Maryland, told Reuters Health in an interview. "One possible explanation may be that depression contributes to an increase in hypertension (high blood pressure), which in turn leads to an elevated risk for stroke," he explained.
"People need to understand that our study opens the possibility that depression may be an additional risk factor pending further investigation," Jonas said. "It is not appropriate for physicians to screen for depression (at this time) because we don't know the exact relationship between stroke and depression." ( SOURCE: Psychosomatic Medicine 2000;62.)
