Prevalence of depression and its associated factors among stroke survivors in Saudi Arabia.
Fuad H Abuadas, Shahnaz M Ayasrah, Muayyad M Ahmad and 3 others
PMID 36266745WHAT IT FOUND
Among Saudi stroke survivors in outpatient clinics, 70.6% reported some degree of depression; higher depression was associated with being unmarried, lower education, and hypertension.
Key findings
0170.6% of participants reported some degree of depression, including 48.8% definite cases and 21.8% borderline cases.
02Higher depression levels were associated with being not married, lower educational level, and hypertension history.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study used convenience sampling at two governmental hospitals, so the participants may not represent all stroke survivors in Saudi Arabia. People with aphasia, dementia before stroke, recurrent stroke, brain tumours, other central nervous system conditions that can cause depression, severe comorbidity, or previous psychiatric history were excluded, so the findings do not apply to those groups. Depression was measured with a self-report questionnaire, not a clinical diagnosis. The design was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that risk factors caused depression or how depression changed over time.
Declared interests
The authors declared no funding and no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 70.6% as a diagnosed prevalence for all Saudi stroke survivors; it came from self-reported HADS scores in a convenience sample of outpatient survivors who could communicate verbally, and the cross-sectional design cannot show cause.