Depression doubles stroke risk in women

Depressed middle-aged women have almost double the risk of suffering from a stroke, a new study has warned.
In a 12-year Australian study of 10,547 women 47-52 years old, researchers found that depressed women had a 2.4 times increased risk of stroke compared to those who weren't depressed.
Even after researchers eliminated several factors that increase stroke risks, depressed women were still 1.9 times more likely to have a stroke.
"When treating women, doctors need to recognise the serious nature of poor mental health and what effects it can have in the long term," said Caroline Jackson, study author and an epidemiologist in the School of Population Health at the University of Queensland in Australia.

"Current guidelines for stroke prevention tend to overlook the potential role of depression," said Jackson.
This is the first large-scale study in which researchers examined the association between depression and stroke in younger middle-aged women.

The closest comparison is with the US-based Nurses' Health Study, which found a 30 per cent higher risk of stroke among depressed women. However, the average participant's age in the Nurses' study was 14 years older.
Jackson and her colleagues analysed survey results from the nationally representative Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. Participants answered questions about their mental and physical health and other personal details every three years in 1998-2010.

About 24 per cent of participants reported being depressed, based on their responses to a standardised depression scale and their recent use of anti-depressants. Self-reported responses and death records revealed 177 first-time strokes occurred during the study.
Although the increased stroke risk associated with depression was large in the study, the absolute risk of stroke is still fairly low for this age group, Jackson said. About 2.1 per cent of American women in their 40s and 50s suffer from stroke.
In the study, only about 1.5 per cent of all women had a stroke. That number increased to slightly more than 2 per cent among women suffering from depression.

The study was published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.