Fatal Strokes Strike Distressed Seniors
Features Jess Fiedorowicz, MD, PhD, University of Iowa
Depression, stress, and a negative outlook on life among older individuals appears to predict their risk of dying from a stroke, a longitudinal study showed.
The most distressed seniors were 2.97-fold more likely to die from a stroke, while the next highest quartile was at 1.98-fold elevated risk compared with the least distressed quartile (P<0.0001 and 0.0091, respectively), Susan Everson-Rose, PhD, MPH, of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and colleagues reported online in Stroke.
That association persisted after full adjustment for other stroke risk factors and was largely accounted for by hemorrhagic rather than ischemic strokes among community-dwelling seniors followed in the Chicago Health and Aging Project.
Posted to Members in the News & Publications on December 17, 2012
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