Depression is Linked to Risk of Diabetes and Strokes

Fri, 12 Aug 2011
A recent study confirms that women who have a history of depression are at a 29% greater risk of experiencing a stroke compared to non-depressed women.

Those who are on antidepressants, specifically selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors like Prozac or Zoloft are 39% more likely to get a stroke.

Depression is not only related to cardiovascular disease generally, it also now linked to strokes.

Depression is also related to an increased risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, smoking as well as physical inactivity.

The study monitored the progress of 80,574 women aged between 54 and 79 as part of the Nurses' Health Study.

Researchers examined depression symptoms, use of antidepressants as well as diagnoses of depression by doctors for the period from 2000 to 2006.

At the beginning 22% of the women had had depression, 2% higher than the American average for women.

Over the duration of the study, there were 1,033 stroke cases.

Stroke is the third main cause of death for in America, after heart disease and cancer, affecting 425,000 women annually, 55,000 more than men.

Link to this page

Copy and Paste the following HTML into your page.