Background and Purpose
We sought to describe the association of spirituality, optimism, fatalism and depressive symptoms with initial stroke severity, stroke recurrence and post-stroke mortality.
Methods
Stroke cases June 2004–December 2008 were ascertained in Nueces County, Texas. Patients without aphasia were queried on their recall of depressive symptoms, fatalism, optimism, and non-organizational spirituality before stroke using validated scales. The association between scales and stroke outcomes was studied using multiple linear regression with log-transformed NIHSS and Cox proportional hazards regression for recurrence and mortality.
Results
669 patients participated, 48.7% were women. In fully adjusted models, an increase in fatalism from the first to third quartile was associated with all-cause mortality (HR=1.41, 95%CI: 1.06, 1.88), marginally associated with risk of recurrence (HR=1.35, 95%CI: 0.97, 1.88), but not stroke severity. Similarly, an increase in depressive symptoms was associated with increased mortality (HR=1.32, 95%CI: 1.02, 1.72), marginally associated with stroke recurrence (HR=1.22, CI: 0.93, 1.62), and with a 9.0% increase in stroke severity (95%CI: 0.01, 18.0). Depressive symptoms altered the fatalism-mortality association such that the association of fatalism and mortality was more pronounced for patients reporting no depressive symptoms. Neither spirituality nor optimism conferred a significant effect on stroke severity, recurrence or mortality.
Conclusions
Among patients who have already had a stroke, self-described pre-stroke depressive symptoms and fatalism, but not optimism or spirituality, are associated with increased risk of stroke recurrence and mortality. Unconventional risk factors may explain some of the variability in stroke outcomes observed in populations, and may be novel targets for intervention.