Mental Health Conditions Common in Pediatric Stroke Survivors

End of primary school may be the age of greatest vulnerability for mental health conditions

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Feb. 4, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Mental health disorders represent a significant problem in pediatric survivors of arterial ischemic stroke (AIS), according to a study presented at the annual American Heart Association International Stroke Conference, held from Feb. 5 to 7 in Los Angeles.

Ludovica Serafini, M.D., Ph.D., from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and colleagues evaluated the prevalence of mental health conditions among patients with pediatric AIS. The analysis included 161 children diagnosed with AIS (median age at stroke, 1.9 years; median age at neuropsychological evaluation, 9.1 years) between 2002 and 2020.

The researchers found that clinical scores for depression, anxiety, and somatization were seen in 13, 13.7, and 17.4 percent of school-age children with AIS, respectively. The median age range for these conditions was 8.5 to 9.6 years. Mean scores for mood, anxiety, and somatization were higher in this population than the general pediatric population. For children with clinical somatization, age at stroke was older than 2 years.

“So many gains have been made in the management of the physical and medical outcomes in this population that now we are starting to see the long-term effects on mental health,” coauthor Jennifer Crosbie, Ph.D., also from the Hospital for Sick Children, said in a statement.