Stroke is the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. Depression is one
of the main complications following stroke. University of Iowa Health Care
researchers are working on ways to prevent depression following stroke.
Depression within days of stroke affects 40 percent of the nearly 400,000
people who survive stroke. University of Iowa Health care researchers
want to find a way to prevent this potentially deadly complication.
Researchers want to know if anti-depressant treatments should be given
to all stroke patients. Previous research shows that depression, within
the first year of a stroke, can decrease a person’s ability to
regain important function, such as attention and memory.
"
By preventing those depressions from occurring, we’re hoping that
the physical recovery will be improved, the intellectual recovery will
be improved, and perhaps most dramatically that we will save lives, says
Robert Robinson, M.D., UI professor of psychiatry.
The study will focus on non-depressed stroke patients within the first
three months of their stroke. Patients will receive psychotherapy, an
FDA-approved medication, or a placebo. Researchers also hope to reduce
the death rate
among stroke patients.
"
When you think about reducing the amount of death following stroke by 50
percent, you are talking about hundreds of thousands of lives that could
be potentially saved by this kind of intervention," says Robinson.
UI Behavioral Health
researchers will team with specialists from two other U.S. medical
centers in this five-year, $3.7 million study, which is funded by the
National
Institute of Mental Health.
For more information about post-stroke depression, contact University
of Iowa Health Care at 319-353-5807. |
