One
in 12 stroke survivors thought about suicide or that they would be better off
dead, a troubling federal survey reveals.
That's more than those with other health
problems such as heart attacks or cancer, and it suggests that depression after
stroke is more serious than many had realized.
"It was surprising" and shows a
need for more treatment, said the study's leader, Dr. Amytis Towfighi of the
University of Southern California in Los Angeles. "When patients have their
depression treated they're more motivated to take their medication, do therapy
and live a full life."
The study was discussed Thursday at an
American Stroke Association conference in Honolulu.
More than 6 million Americans have had a
stroke; about 800,000 occur each year in the U.S. Studies suggest that up to a
third of stroke survivors develop depression, but few have looked at suicidal
thoughts — one sign of how serious it is.
"It's not necessarily active suicidal
thoughts with a plan, but perhaps wishing you hadn't survived the event,"
Towfighi explained.
She used the National Health and Nutrition
Surveys, a government project that gives checkups and questionnaires to a
representative sample of adults. More than 17,000 people were surveyed from 2005
through 2010.
They included 678 who had suffered a stroke;
758 who had had a heart attack; 1,242 with cancer, and 1,991 with diabetes.
Researchers don't know how long ago these problems occurred of if people were
still being treated for them.
They were asked a question that many studies
use to gauge suicidal thinking: "Over the last two weeks, how often have
you been bothered by thoughts that you would be better off dead, or of hurting
yourself?"
About 8 percent of stroke survivors reported
such thoughts, compared to 6 percent of heart attack survivors, 5 percent of
those with diabetes and 4 percent with cancer.
Suicidal thoughts were more likely in people
who scored high on depression tests, were younger, overweight, less educated,
poor, female or unmarried.
Depression may develop partly because strokes
damage the very thing that controls mood — the brain, said a neurologist with
no role in the study, Dr. Brian Silver of Brown University and Rhode Island
Hospital.
"It's not necessarily the reaction to
the disease ... it's also the disease itself that is causing the
depression," by releasing harmful chemicals that can trigger it, he said.
Suicidal thinking is a well-known problem,
but this study "puts a number on it" and shows the need to watch for
and treat it, Silver said.
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Stroke conference: www.strokeassociation.org
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