Zhang HL, Liu J, Wei K, Hu CN, Wang XJ, Han QL, Wang LC. Impact of post-stroke depression on the prognosis of stroke-associated pneumonia and analysis of predictive factors: A retrospective study of 186 patients. World J Psychiatry 2026; 16(10): 121968 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.121968]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Li-Chun Wang, MD, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Cangzhou Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, No. 31 Huanghe Road, Cangzhou 061001, Hebei Province, China. wlc20040630@sina.com
Research Domain of This Article
Psychology
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research-article
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Zhang HL, Liu J, Wei K, Hu CN, Wang XJ, Han QL, Wang LC. Impact of post-stroke depression on the prognosis of stroke-associated pneumonia and analysis of predictive factors: A retrospective study of 186 patients. World J Psychiatry 2026; 16(10): 121968 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.121968]
World J Psychiatry. Oct 19, 2026; 16(10): 121968 Published online Oct 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.121968
Impact of post-stroke depression on the prognosis of stroke-associated pneumonia and analysis of predictive factors: A retrospective study of 186 patients
Hong-Li Zhang, Jie Liu, Kai Wei, Chun-Na Hu, Xiao-Jun Wang, Qing-Lin Han, Li-Chun Wang
Hong-Li Zhang, Department of Nursing, Orthopedic Rehabilitation Campus, Cangzhou Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Cangzhou 061001, Hebei Province, China
Jie Liu, Kai Wei, Chun-Na Hu, Li-Chun Wang, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Cangzhou Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Cangzhou 061001, Hebei Province, China
Xiao-Jun Wang, Department of Rehabilitation Therapy, Cangzhou Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Cangzhou 061001, Hebei Province, China
Qing-Lin Han, Department of Psychological Clinic, Cangzhou Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Cangzhou 061001, Hebei Province, China
Author contributions: Zhang HL conceptualized the study and drafted the manuscript; Liu J and Wei K performed patient recruitment and data collection; Hu CN assisted with data collection and biomarker processing; Wang XJ implemented the warm moxibustion protocols; Han QL conducted all depression assessments; Wang LC supervised the project, designed the study, performed statistical analysis, and critically revised the manuscript; all authors approved the final version.
AI contribution statement: The authors declare that no AI tools were used in the preparation of this manuscript. The authors assume full responsibility for the integrity, accuracy, originality, and scientific validity of all submitted materials.
Supported by Hebei Provincial Science Research Project Plan for Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 2025563.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Cangzhou Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Hebei Province, China (Approval No. CZX2024-KY052-02).
Informed consent statement: All study participants or their legal guardian provided informed written consent about personal and medical data collection prior to study enrolment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: The datasets used and analyzed in this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Corresponding author: Li-Chun Wang, MD, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Cangzhou Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, No. 31 Huanghe Road, Cangzhou 061001, Hebei Province, China. wlc20040630@sina.com
Received: May 12, 2026 Revised: July 4, 2026 Accepted: August 5, 2026 Published online: October 19, 2026 Processing time: 151 Days and 0.4 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This retrospective study of 186 patients with stroke-associated pneumonia (SAP) demonstrates that co-morbid post-stroke depression is highly prevalent (approximately 50% of SAP) and an independent predictor of adverse prognosis, including markedly longer time to resolution of infection, prolonged hospital stays, worse functional recovery at discharge, and higher 28-day mortality. A robust seven-variable predictor model incorporating depression status, disease severity indices (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II), nutritional biomarkers (albumin), infectious parameters (multi-drug resistant organism status), neurotrophic factors (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), mechanical ventilation duration, and age, yielded excellent discriminative power with an area under the curve of 0.91, representing a clinically actionable framework for early identification of high-risk SAP patients. These findings suggest that routine depression screening may be important in SAP management, and integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine approaches, especially warm moxibustion, may have beneficial effects.
