Many stroke patients will report feelings of fatigue after their stroke, but what causes these feelings of fatigue?
The after-effect of fatigue after stroke is an added hurdle for stroke patients in their recovery, however, there is still a limited understanding of what causes increased fatigue and daytime sleep after stroke.
A research group based in Norway has taken a deep dive at whether cognitive and emotional complaints are related to increased fatigue and sleep during the day.
Cognitive and emotional disorder struggle
Their analysis displays that patients that report poorer memory and concentration three months following stroke have an increased of being more fatigued and sleeping more during the day at twelve months.
They found that the same applied to patients who report major anxiety and depressive symptoms three months after stroke.
There researchers state that because of these findings, cognitive and emotional complaints are both important factors for increased daytime sleep and fatigue after a stroke. The also state that this finding was also evident when we took into account other factors such as age, sex, the severity of the stroke and quality of sleep at night, as well as their relationship to each other over time.
The data used in this study originated from NORSPOT, which was a study that was carried out at Akershus University Hospital between 2012 and 2013. In that study, stroke patients answered questionnaires three and twelve months after their stroke. The patient sample in this study had relatively mild strokes and had no known cognitive or emotional challenges before the stroke.
The importance of following up patients following stroke
Both cognitive and emotional problems are common after a stroke. Our results show the importance of following up on these complaints in the subacute phase after the stroke.
We can reduce the risk of increased fatigue and need for sleep in the long term if we manage to identify and treat store patients who struggle cognitively and emotionally.
Further research
The researchers state that this study is an important step towards a better understanding of fatigue and increased need for sleep following a stroke. Cognitive and emotional problems after a stroke are often not detected in the routine follow-up, but have the potential to greatly affect the patient’s everyday life.
The researchers hope that more research will be undertaken in this field, as it has the potential to lead to improved diagnostics and treatment of patients in the long term.
