Family Functioning is Associated with Post-Stroke Depression in First-Ever Stroke Survivors: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Background

Post-stroke depression (PSD) can aggravate the mortality and recurrence rate in stroke patients. The relationship between family functioning and PSD at different phases after a first-ever stroke is unclear. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to investigate the patterns and relationship of family functioning and PSD at acute hospitalization and 6 months post-discharge in first-ever stroke survivors.

Methods

This is a longitudinal study conducted in Guangzhou, China. Family functioning and depression were measured by the Short Form Family Assessment Device (SF-FAD) and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) at baseline and 6 months post-discharge. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between family functioning and PSD.

Results

The prevalence of PSD at acute hospitalization and 6 months post-discharge was 32.9% and 20.0%, respectively. SDS scores decreased significantly from baseline to 6 months post-discharge, while SF-FAD scores did not change significantly during this period. The Pearson correlation coefficient showed that SF-FAD scores were positively associated with SDS scores at the two time points (r₁ = 0.341, r₂ = 0.510, P < 0.05). Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that SF-FAD scores could predict PSD at baseline (unstandardized coefficient: 7.010, P < 0.05) and 6 months post-discharge (unstandardized coefficient: 9.672, P < 0.001).

Conclusion

This study found that first-ever stroke survivors had good family functioning at baseline and 6 months post-discharge. The findings in this study verified that poor family functioning is positively associated with PSD at different phases post-stroke. Good family functioning is an important protective factor against PSD.

Keywords:

• family functioning
• depression
• stroke

Data Sharing Statement

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Ethics Approval and Informed Consent

This study was approved by the ethics committee of The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University (Approval no. [2018]02-421-01) in Guangzhou, China. This study was carried out in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. All participants signed the informed consent prior to their participation.

Acknowledgment

We thank all the participants in this study.

Disclosure

All authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the General Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China in 2018 (Grant number 71874211).