Objective This study aims to construct a network of post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD)symptoms in first stroke patients,to explore the network characteristics and identify core symptom through network analysis,and provide a basis for precise intervention of symptoms.Methods From October 2022 to April 2023,we recruited 232 first stroke patients by using convenience sampling from a tertiary hospital in Qingdao.PTSD checklist for DSM-5 was used to investigate 20 symptoms,construct a symptom network,and analyze the accuracy and stability of core symptom and network structure.Statistical analysis of the network and data visualization were achieved by R software.The test shows that the accuracy and stability of the network are good,and the network model is reliable.Results The PTSD network shows symptoms of"hypervigilance"and"hyperactive startle response","avoidance of memories,thoughts,or feelings related to the traumatic event"and"avoidance of extemal cues related to the traumatic event","negative beliefs"and"blaming oneself or others"had the strongest association between these 2 symptoms of all.Their regularized partial correlation coefficients were 0.650,0.635,0.381.The symptom"trauma-related forgetting"had the highest predictability.The expected influence results indicated that the symptom"restriction of positive emotion"had the highest centrality.This symptom was more closely related to other symptoms.Conclusion In this study,symptom network analysis was used to explore the symptom network of PTSD in first stroke patients.According to the symptoms with the strongest relationship and the high predictability value in the results,it is suggested that the strong connection between these symptoms should be cut off preventatively during the intervention process to improve the intervention efficiency.The results of PTSD symptom network show that"restriction of positive emotion"is the most core symptom of PTSD.This suggests that clinical health care personnel should take this symptom as the target point of intervention and use it as a breakthrough point to formulate scientific psychological interventions to effectively improve patients'mental health,enhance the control effect of PTSD and promote psychological recovery.