Abstract
INTRODUCTION: A number of observational studies have indicated that poststroke depression could increase the risk of stroke outcomes. There is a meta-analysis indicating that poststroke depression is a risk factor of all-cause mortality. This paper reports the protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis to clarify the associations of poststroke depression with stroke recurrence and mortality in order to determine whether poststroke depression is a predictor of stroke outcomes according to data extracted from relevant observational studies. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: MEDLINE, Web of Science databases, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews will be used to conduct the search. Published studies written in English will be included. The risk of bias for the studies included in the systematic review or meta-analysis will be assessed by the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale. HRs for stroke recurrence and mortality with 95% CIs will be included as primary outcomes. Subgroup analyses and meta-regression will be performed. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics approval will not be needed because the data used in this systematic review will be extracted from published studies. The results of the systematic review focusing on whether depression after stroke is a predictor for stroke recurrence and mortality will be disseminated by publication in a peer-reviewed journal. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42018107944.