People who are highly stressed or have symptoms of depression are at a significantly higher risk of suffering a stroke, a new study has found.

These people are also at a higher risk of suffering a transient ischaemic attack (TIA), which is also known as a ‘mini-stroke'.

Around 10,000 people suffer a stroke in Ireland every year and there are an estimated 50,000 stroke survivors around the country.

US researchers looked at over 6,700 adults aged between 45 and 84, none of whom had heart disease at the beginning of the study. The participants completed questionnaires over a two-year period which covered issues such as stress, depression, anger and hostility.

They were then monitored for a further eight to 11 years.

The study found that compared to people with the lowest scores for depressive symptoms, those with the highest scores were 86% more likely to have a stroke or TIA.

When it came to chronic stress, those with the highest scores were 59% more likely to suffer a stroke or TIA than those with the lowest scores.

Meanwhile those who scored highest for hostility were twice as likely to suffer a stroke or TIA compared to those who scored lowest.

"There's such a focus on traditional risk factors - cholesterol levels, blood pressure, smoking and so forth - and those are all very important, but studies like this one show that psychological characteristics are equally important," commented the study's lead author, Dr Susan Everson-Rose, of the University of Minnesota.

The links between these psychological factors and stroke were significant even when other risk factors were taken into account, such as age, gender and health behaviours.

"Given our aging population, it's important to consider these other factors that might play a role in disease risk. Stroke is a disease of the elderly predominantly, and so learning more about things that can influence risk for stroke as people age is important," Dr Everson-Rose said.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, Stroke.

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