Associations of sedentary behaviors with mental health outcomes in a cohort of patients with minor ischemic stroke.

OBJECTIVE

The relationship between sedentary behaviors and functional outcomes of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) has been previously reported. However, it remains unclear whether sedentary behaviors are associated with mental health outcomes in AIS patients. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the mental health outcomes in patients with minor AIS one year after stroke onset.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study recruited 1230 patients with minor AIS (NIHSS ≤ 5) from three hospitals in China. One year after discharge, patients were interviewed using face-to-face questionnaires, including the PHQ-9, GAD-7, and ISI, to assess symptoms of depression, anxiety, and insomnia, respectively. Participants were categorized into the long sedentary time group and the short sedentary time group based on the median sedentary time of all participants. The associations between leisure sedentary time and mental health outcomes were investigated.

RESULTS

Participants with a long leisure sedentary time had higher PHQ-9, GAD-7, and ISI scores than those with a short sedentary time. Longer sedentary time was associated with an increased risk of experiencing symptoms of major depression (RR, 95% CI: 1.79, 1.47 to 2.18), anxiety (RR, 95% CI: 3.28, 2.08 to 5.18), and insomnia (RR, 95% CI: 2.58, 2.03 to 3.28) one year after a minor AIS.

CONCLUSION

Excessive sedentary time is associated with long-term mental health conditions after stroke. Therefore, reducing the sedentary time might be helpful for preventing poststroke depression, anxiety, and insomnia.