Physicians should consider screening stroke patients for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), say researchers with Columbia University Medical Center.
A study published in the online journal
PLOS ONE found that nearly one in four stroke survivors develops PTSD. And researchers worry that the disorder may be hindering patients’ recoveries.
PTSD is often associated with external events such as combat or sexual assault.
"There is something different about PTSD after a stroke because the threat is inside your body,” said lead author Donald Edmondson, assistant professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia's
Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health, in an interview with
USA Today.
Edmondson and his colleagues analyzed nine studies of PTSD induced by a stroke or mini-stroke that encompassed more than 1,100 stroke survivors in France, Norway, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States.
Researchers are pushing for a larger study on stroke-induced PTSD to determine whether it can lead to or is a risk factor for future cardiovascular events.