The researchers conducted a follow-up study of 10,000 men with an average age of 65 to assess whether they were depressed and had stroke None of these people had a history of stroke at the start of the study  The study found that persistent symptoms of major depression were found to be associated with more than double the risk of stroke, while those with no symptoms of depression or less severe symptoms had no increased risk of stroke
Depression and stroke are common diseases of old age and often occur together.
Patients who had experienced major depressive symptoms, even though their symptoms had eased over the study period, had no significant difference in stroke risk compared with those who had experienced major depressive symptoms over time