Some people feel worse after a stroke than others. Recent research shows that stroke patients with cognitive and emotional problems usually tend to feel drained and sleep more through the day.

Every 12 months, roughly 9,000 individuals are admitted to Norwegian hospitals as a consequence of stroke. About half of those patients feel exhausted afterward, and lots of patients sleep more through the day than before the stroke. These sequelae are difficult and significantly impact patients’ each day lives.

Nonetheless, we still do not know what aspects result in increased fatigue and sleep through the day after stroke. Due to this fact, our research group desired to test whether cognitive and emotional complaints are related to increased fatigue and sleep through the day.

Our research results were recently published in a journal article Frontiers in neurology.

Individuals with cognitive and emotional disorders struggle with them

Our analyzes show that patients who report poorer memory and concentration three months after stroke usually tend to be more drained and sleep more through the day twelve months later.

The identical applies to patients who report severe symptoms of tension and depression three months after a stroke.

Cognitive and emotional complaints are subsequently essential aspects contributing to longer daytime sleep and fatigue after stroke. This finding was also evident after we took under consideration other aspects akin to age, gender, stroke severity and nighttime sleep quality, in addition to their relationship to one another over time.

The study was conducted by collaborating scientists from the Vascular Diseases (VaD) Research Group on the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and researchers from the Department of Health Services Research (HøKH) at Akershus University Hospital.

Ramune Grambaite heads the group at NTNU. He’s an associate professor of clinical neuropsychology and clinical director of the Neuropsychological Outpatient Clinic on the Faculty of Psychology at NTNU. Elisabeth Kliem is a PhD student within the research group and the primary writer of this text.

We used data from the NORSPOT study, which was conducted at Akershus University Hospital in 2012–2013. On this study, stroke patients accomplished questionnaires three and twelve months after stroke. The patient sample in our study had a comparatively mild stroke and had no known cognitive or emotional problems prior to the stroke.

It will be significant to watch stroke patients

Each cognitive and emotional problems are common after a stroke. Our results show how essential it’s to watch these symptoms within the subacute phase after stroke.

We will reduce the danger of increased fatigue and sleep needs in the long run if we will discover and treat stroke patients who’ve cognitive and emotional difficulties.

Further research is required

This study is a very important step towards higher understanding fatigue and increased sleep needs after stroke. Cognitive and emotional problems after a stroke are sometimes not detected during routine check-ups, but they will significantly impact a patient’s each day life.

We subsequently hope for further research on this area, because in the long term it might result in improved diagnosis and treatment of patients.