title: Part I: frequency of depression after stroke: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Approximately 15 million people who suffer a stroke globally each year are at risk of developing depression.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To update our systematic review and meta-analysis of the frequency of depression after stroke published in 2005, including studies published before July 2004.
  
  
  METHODS
  We included all published observational studies (to 31 May 2013) with prospective consecutive recruitment and quantification of the proportion of people with depression after stroke. We included studies of adult (>18 years) patients with a clinical diagnosis of stroke, where an assessment of depression or depressive symptom burden was performed at a pre-specified time-point for all study participants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data were available from 61 studies including 25,488 people. The proportional frequency of depression varied considerably across studies; however, the pooled frequency estimate of 31% (95% confidence interval 28% to 35%) was not significantly different from the 33% (difference of 2%, 95% confidence interval <1% to 3%) reported in the 2005 review. The proportion with depression between one and five-years (25%; 95% confidence interval 16 to 33%) and at five years after stroke (23%; 95% confidence interval 14 to 31%) was significantly lower.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite systematic review evidence describing validated depression screening tools and effective treatment and prevention strategies for depression after stroke, there has not been a significant reduction in the proportion of people experiencing depression after stroke. There is a pressing need for increased clinical uptake of evidenced-based strategies to screen for, prevent, and treat depression after stroke.
authors.affiliation: The George Institute for Global Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Reader in Epidemiology, The University of Central Lancashire, Preston, Lancashire, UK.
authors.forename: Maree L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Hackett
authors.forename: Kristen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pickles
mesh_terms: D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D019370:Observation; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology*
keywords: depression; frequency; meta-analysis; stroke; systematic review