title: Attenuated cortisol response to a standardized stress test in Lithuanian versus Swedish men: the LiVicordia study.
abstract: Cardiovascular mortality rates of middle-aged men are 4 times higher in Lithuania than in Sweden The difference is not explained by standard risk factors, but our previous findings of pronounced psychosocial stress in Lithuanian men offer a possible explanation. We investigated cortisol and cardiovascular reactivity to a standardized laboratory stress test in population-based random samples of 50-year-old men from Vilnius, Lithuania and Linköping, Sweden. Repeated measures analysis of variance showed that cortisol responses differed between cities (p's < .0001). Mean change of serum cortisol from baseline to 30 min was 18.1 and 88.4 nmol/1 for Vilnius and Linkoping men, respectively (p < .001). In a multivariate analysis, a low peak cortisol response was significantly related to high baseline cortisol, current smoking, and vital exhaustion. The findings suggest a physiological mechanism of chronic psychosocial stress, which may contribute to increased risk for cardiovascular death.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environment and Health, Facutly of Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden. Margareta.Kristenson@fhvc.lio.se
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kristenson
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Orth-Gomér
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kucinskienë
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bergdahl
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Calkauskas
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Balinkyniene
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Olsson