Stroke Patients Have an Inclination to Commit Suicide

Suicide Rates are Higher Among Young Survivors

​Stroke can lead to instant death or sometimes leave the patient disabled making the survivor face numerous challenges during the recovery period. A new Asian study has now found that when the person is left disabled after stroke, he/she attempts for suicide if the affected person is young, not from an affluent background or involved in strenuous physical job.

The study was carried on for a period of 10 years during which researchers discovered that people with stroke were 2-times likelier for suicide attempts compared to others. Statistics show that 1,925 patients (among 1.4 million) who did not suffer from stroke tried to commit suicide while 2,140 stroke patients (among 7,13,690) attempted for suicidal. The ratio was almost 0.13:0.3.

High-risk Population
Suicidal thoughts were strongest among patients:

1. Younger than 50 years of age
2. Manual laborers
3. Who were from a lower income group. Lower income group is a prominent risk category for stroke because the cost of recovery from stroke are exuberant and beyond the reach of such poor people.
   
   

Stroke not only leaves the person physically unstable but also affect him/her psychologically. Such effects can depress a manual laborer who is forced to quit from work or a young person when he/she is curbed and restricted lifelong with limitations. More about stroke and its major role in driving the patient to the verge of suicide is discussed at http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/.

Physicians are unsure if the physical reaction is the reason behind depression, but think that changes in neurotransmitters, cortisol levels and cerebral blood flow affect the way an individual starts to perceive things and forms intentions. Sadly, depression after stroke remains an area to be studied yet and is mostly underdiagnosed. Either the patient must note his/her symptoms and complain about it to the doctor or the physician must check regularly for signs of any depression. Once discovered, depression needs immediate treatment in such patient.