Depression, Introversion and Mortality following Stroke

Abstract

In this study, we examined the influence of clinical depression and personality introversion on 15-month mortality following stroke. Ninety-four stroke inpatients were examined two months post-stroke for clinical depression and pre-stroke personality characteristics of neuroticism and introversion. Fifteen months later, the vital status of 84 of these patients was able to be determined. Seven (8%) of the 84 patients died. Mortality rate increased from non-depressed to minor depressed and to major depressed patients (1 /48 [2%], 2/21 [10%] and 3/13 [23%], respectively) (χ2[trend] = 6.6, df = 1, p = 0.01). Patients who died had higher depression symptom scores (mean ± SD) than survivors (17.7 ± 6.0 versus 9.9 ± 7.1) (p = 0.006). Non-survivors were more introverted (i.e. had lower extroversion scores) than survivors (1.7 ±1.4 versus 4.2 ± 2.1) (p = 0.004). In multivariate analyses, introversion and depression were independently associated with mortality. We conclude that personality introversion and depression are associated with increased mortality following stroke.