Treatment for post-stroke depression is lacking, study finds

Providers who treat stroke sufferers need to do a better job of screening them for depression, a new study suggests.

In a study of 1,450 ischemic stroke survivors and 397 transient ischemic attack (TIA) survivors, investigators found that 18% of stroke patients and over 14% of TIA survivors experienced depression three months following their initial hospitalization. What's more, nearly 70% of all the stroke and TIA participants with persistent depression were not being treated with antidepressants at the three-month and 12-month follow-up points

"The similar rates of depression following stroke and TIA could be due to similarities in the rates of other medical conditions or to the direct effects of brain injury on the risk of depression, but more studies are needed," said Duke University investigator Nada El Husseini, M.D.

The study was published March 29 in the journal Stroke.