Research has shown that depression is a serious complication following stroke. The objective of the study was to evaluate various demographic factors as they relate to post-stroke depression. The objective was assessed using secondary data from the 2011-2012 Adult California Health Interview Survey.

The study predicted that gender, race, marital status, and Medicare coverage were significant contributors to post-stroke depression. The Chi-Square statistical test was utilized to evaluate data in the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software. The results of analysis proved to be statistically significant for race, marital status and Medicare coverage but not gender. The findings of this study add to the current body of knowledge of post-stroke depression. Future research should be conducted to explore the effects of stroke lesion laterality, time between onset of stroke and depression, family history of depression, functional status following stroke, and post-stroke depression.