[A study of the risk factors of stroke development in the framework of WHO program "MONICA-psychosocial"]

The study was conducted in the framework of WHO program "MONICA--psychosocial" in 1994-2002 using a randomized representative sample of males aged 25-64 years recruited from one district of Novosibirsk city. Over 8 years all stroke cases in the cohort have been registered and relative risk (RR) of stroke development was determined by special statistical methods. RR proved to be higher as follows: in males with depression--5,9-fold; with life exhaustion--3-fold; with low index of close relation--3-fold; with low index of social relations--4-fold; with sleep disturbance--2,7-fold; with stressful events in the family--2-fold; with stressful events at the job--4-fold. High level of hostility did not exert any influence on stroke development. Most frequently stroke occurred in men with higher negative psychosocial factors, i.e. widowers, divorced, those with primary and not-completed secondary school education and those engaged in hard and moderate manual labor as well as pensioners and individuals with low social support.