Increasing symptoms of depression in a person may be a warning sign of an impending grave medical condition, new research has warned.
Clinical depression is an important risk factor that doctors need to watch out for, as it might mean a stroke is on the way, show findings of the study carried out by researchers at the University of Munster, Germany.
Previously, it was well-documented that people can become mentally unwell after suffering a stroke. But the research that followed more than 10,000 adults over 12 years suggests depression may grip an individual several years before the stroke hits.
Participants of the trials took a survey every two years, responding to questions such as whether they experienced any symptoms of depression in the past week, including: feeling lonely, sad, suffering from restless sleep and regarding every exertion as an effort. The more symptoms participants noted, the higher their score was.
If at the start of the research participants who would later experience a stroke had approximately the same scores as those who did not (an average of 1.6 points), two years before a stroke there was a distinct difference.
The individuals who succumbed to the life-threatening medical condition that happens when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off could be seen as growing more depressed before it happened. In a 24 percent increase, their scores rose to nearly two points.
At the actual time of the stroke, 34 percent of the people met the criteria for having probable depression, showed the research, published in the journal Neurology, as compared to 24 percent of those who did not suffer an attack.
“Depression is not only a post-stroke issue, but also a pre-stroke phenomenon. Even slight increases in depressive symptoms, especially mood and fatigue-related symptoms, may be a signal that a stroke is about to occur. Whether these pre-stroke changes can be used to predict who will have a stroke is unclear,” Dr Maria Blochl, of the University of Munster in Germany, was cited as saying.
According to those involved in the study, future research is needed to find out why depressive symptoms occur ‘pre-stroke.
Doctors typically predict the risk of a stroke based on factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels and excess body fat located in the area of the abdomen and waist.
The findings come as depression is believed to affect an estimated 3.8% of the global population, including 5.0% among adults and 5.7% among adults older than 60 years, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).