Association between post-stroke depressiveness and the utilization of healthcare services three months after the stroke.

Publisher: Nature Publishing Group Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101563288 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2045-2322 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 20452322 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Sci Rep Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: London : Nature Publishing Group, copyright 2011-

Stroke*/complications ; Stroke*/psychology ; Depression*/etiology ; Depression*/epidemiology ; Patient Acceptance of Health Care*/statistics & numerical data; Humans ; Male ; Female ; Aged ; Middle Aged ; Prospective Studies ; Stroke Rehabilitation ; Aged, 80 and over

Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics approval: The study was conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Reference-Number: 18–196) in August 2018. Consent to participate: Written informed consent was obtained from all participants or legal caregivers.
Post-stroke depression affects approximately one-third of stroke survivors and can result in various adverse outcomes. With the rising prevalence of strokes, understanding the impact of post-stroke depression on healthcare utilization is crucial. The study examined the association between patient-reported post-stroke depressiveness and the healthcare service utilization three months post-stroke. The prospective Stroke Cohort Augsburg (SCHANA) study assessed post-stroke depressiveness using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) during hospital stay. Participants reported their utilization of medical and therapeutic services, rehabilitation, and inpatient hospital stays three months post-discharge. Multivariable adjusted linear and binary logistic regression analyses examined the association between post-stroke depressiveness and healthcare service utilization. Among 546 participants included into the analyses, 57.1% had no depression, 28.8% had mild depression and 14.9% had moderate to severe depression. Higher PHQ-9 scores were associated with a significantly increased likelihood of inpatient hospital treatment (OR = 1.07; 95% CI: 1.01-1.14; p = 0.016), attendance at rehabilitation programs (OR = 1.09; 95% CI: 1.03-1.15; p = 0.003), and more frequent utilization of general practitioners/internists (beta = 0.10; 95% CI: 0.01-0.19; p = 0.036). In conclusion, post-stroke depressiveness was associated with increased healthcare service utilization. Further studies are required to gain a more comprehensive understanding.
(© 2025. The Author(s).)

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Keywords: Cohort study; Depressiveness; Healthcare utilization; Post-stroke depression; Stroke

Date Created: 20250802 Date Completed: 20250802 Latest Revision: 20250807

20250808

PMC12318013

10.1038/s41598-025-12875-x

40753106