Abstract W P144: Depressive Symptoms and Risk of Stroke in African Americans: Findings from the Jackson Heart Study

Abstract

Background: Depression is a risk factor for stroke, yet most studies of this association have been conducted in white populations. We investigated the association between depressive symptoms and long-term stroke risk in a community-based cohort of African Americans. Methods: We used data from the Jackson Heart Study to investigate the association of depressive symptoms at baseline (between 2000 and 2004) with incident stroke risk over 9 years of follow-up. We classified depressive symptoms using the Centers for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. We used Kaplan-Meier estimates and Cox proportional hazards models to assess stroke risk using 3 exposure variables: any depressive symptoms (CES-D score ≥ 16); minor (score 16 to less than 21) vs major depression (score ≥ 21); and CES-D score per 1 SD increase. Models were adjusted for a stroke risk score and behavioral risk factors. Results: Of 3309 participants without a history of stroke and with complete CES-D information, 738 (22.3%) had depressive symptoms at baseline. The rate of incident stroke was higher among patients with depressive symptoms than among those without (2.8% vs 2.2%; P = .15). Depressive symptoms at baseline were not associated with greater stroke risk in unadjusted or adjusted models (Table). Major depressive symptoms were associated with a twofold greater unadjusted stroke risk compared with no depressive symptoms. However, this association was not significant after multivariable adjustment. Conclusions: In a community-based cohort of African Americans, depressive symptoms were not associated with a greater risk of incident stroke after adjustment for other risk factors.