MedWire News: Very elderly individuals with depression are at greatly increased risk for first-ever stroke, irrespective of whether they suffer dementia, report researchers.

Ingmar Skoog (Gothenburg University, Sweden) and team analyzed data from a representative sample of 401 85-year-olds without prior stroke from Gothenburg who were followed-up for 3 years as part of the Longitudinal Gerontological and Geriatric Population Studies (H70).

The researchers found that depression at baseline was significantly associated with a first-ever stroke during follow-up, at a hazard ratio (HR) of 2.7 versus no depression at baseline. The results were similar when demented and nondemented individuals were analyzed separately.

Skoog et al also examined whether the nine specific symptom clusters for depression included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Revision criteria were related to stroke incidence. Only depressed mood and loss of interest or pleasure were related to increased stroke incidence in univariate analyses.

"Our results are in accordance with recent studies in younger, nondemented age groups and further support the hypothesis that depression may be a risk factor, or prodrome, for stroke," comment the researchers in the journal Stroke.

They add that the strengths of their study are that "the diagnosis of depression was based on an interview conducted by a psychiatrist, the extensive data-gathering, that the sample was representative of the general population in this age group and included both individuals living in the community as well as in institutions, and that dementia and stroke were diagnosed with comprehensive assessments."

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