Increased psychosocial strain in Lithuanian versus Swedish men: the LiVicordia study.
Psychosom Med
; 60(3): 277-82, 1998.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-9625214
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
Coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality is four times higher in 50-year-old Lithuanian men than in 50-year-old Swedish men. The difference cannot be explained by standard risk factors. The objective of this study was to examine differences in psychosocial risk factors for CHD in the two countries.METHODS:
The LiVicordia study is a cross-sectional survey comparing 150 randomly selected 50-year-old men in each of the two cities Vilnius, Lithuania, and Linköping, Sweden. As part of the study, a broad range of psychosocial characteristics, known to predict CHD, were investigated.RESULTS:
In the men from Vilnius compared with those from Linköping, we found a cluster of psychosocial risk factors for CHD; higher job strain (p <.01), lower social support at work, lower emotional support, and lower social integration (p values <.001). Vilnius men also showed lower coping, self-esteem, and sense of coherence (p values < .001), higher vital exhaustion, and depression (p values < .001). Quality of life and perceived health were lower and expectations of ill health within 5 to 10 years were higher in Vilnius men (p values < .001). Correlations between measurements on traditional and psychosocial risk factors were few and weak.CONCLUSIONS:
The Vilnius men, representing the population with a four-fold higher CHD mortality, had unfavorable characteristics on a cluster of psychosocial risk factors for CHD in comparison with the Linköping men. We suggest that this finding may provide a basis for possible new explanations of the differences in CHD mortality between Lithuania and Sweden.
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Stress, Psychological
/
Cross-Cultural Comparison
/
Coronary Disease
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
/
Risk_factors_studies
Aspects:
Patient_preference
Limits:
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Psychosom Med
Year:
1998
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country: