Methods: A population-based cohort of 6095 stroke-free white and black men and
women aged 25 to 74 years in the NHANES I Epidemiologic Followup Study were followed for an average of 16
years to a maximum of 22 years. The association between stroke and baseline self-reported depressive symptomatology
was analyzed using Cox proportional hazards models adjusting for baseline age, race, sex, education,
smoking status, body mass index, alcohol use, nonrecreational physical activity, serum cholesterol level, history of
diabetes, history of heart disease, and systolic blood pressure. Hospital records and death certificates were used to
identify stroke cases; a total of 483 cases were identified.