Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2020 Apr;15(3):244-255.
doi: 10.1177/1747493019896958. Epub 2020 Jan 24.

Frequency of anxiety after stroke: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies

Peter Knapp  1 , Alexander Dunn-Roberts  2 , Nimah Sahib  2 , Liz Cook  1 , Felicity Astin  3 , Eirini Kontou  4 , Shirley A Thomas  4
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Frequency of anxiety after stroke: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies

Peter Knapp et al. Int J Stroke. 2020 Apr.

Erratum in

  • Corrigendum.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] Int J Stroke. 2021 Dec;16(9):NP2. doi: 10.1177/17474930211037143. Epub 2021 Aug 4. Int J Stroke. 2021. PMID: 34346237 No abstract available.

Abstract

Background: Anxiety is a common and distressing problem after stroke.

Aims: To undertake an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies of anxiety after stroke and integrate the findings with those reported previously.

Summary of review: Multiple databases were searched in May 2018 and 53 new studies were included following dual independent sifting and data extraction. These were combined with 44 previous studies to form a combined data set of 97 studies, comprising 22,262 participants. Studies using interview methods were of higher quality. Rates of anxiety by interview were 18.7% (95% confidence interval 12.5, 24.9%) and 24.2% (95% confidence interval 21.5, 26.9%) by rating scale. Rates of anxiety did not lower meaningfully up to 24 months after stroke. Eight different anxiety subtypes were also reported.

Conclusions: This review confirms that anxiety occurs in around one in four patients (by rating scale) and one in five patients (by interview). More research on anxiety subtypes is needed for an informed understanding of its effects and the development of interventions.

Keywords: Acute; chronic disease; countries; epidemiology; methodology; rehabilitation.

PubMed Disclaimer