Stroke Risk Twice As High In Those With Depression

New findings published in the Journal of the American Heart Association show how adults who suffer from chronic depression are at a much higher risk of stroke than those who are not depressed.

Researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health examined data on 16,178 participants aged 50 and up between 1998 and 2010, specifically zeroing in on their symptoms involving depression, history of stroke and any lifestyle risks.

Findings revealed that those reporting severe symptomps of depression were twice as likely to have a stroke than those with mild or moderate problems relating to the health issue. Furthermore, the risk was considerably higher among women between the ages of 50 and 65 when seen from an analysis of 1,192 stroke cases during the aforementioned period.

Because of specific physiological changes, researchers believe that an increased risk of depression may also increase some individuals likelihood of drinking or a sedentary lifestyle.

"This is the first study evaluating how changes in depressive symptoms predict changes in stroke risk," Paola Gilsanz, study lead author and a ‎Yerby Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard Chan School, said in a news release. "If replicated, these findings suggest that clinicians should seek to identify and treat depressive symptoms as close to onset as possible, before harmful effects on stroke risk start to accumulate."

Major depressive disorder affects approximately 14.8 million American adults, or about 6.7 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older, in a given year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Furthermore, while major depressive disorder can develop at any age, the median age at onset is 32.