Risk factors of strokes in a rural area of nagano prefecture and control for prevention / 日本農村医学会雑誌

ABSTRACT

Conducted in the Saku district (pop 105, 000) of Nagano Prefecture, a WHO collaborative study and a district survey on the onset of stroke (994 respondents), it is evident that the past history of hypertension was extremely significant both for patients with cerebral hemorrhage and cerebral thrombosis. Among patients with cerebral hemorrhage and those, 69 years old and under, with cerebral thrombosis, the group which undid or suspended hypertension treatment was evidently larger than that who continued to undergo treatment. But among those, 70 years old and over, with cerebral thrombosis, no significant statistical difference was noted between the two groups.<BR>In Yachiho, a mountain village in the Saku district, hypertension control has been carried out since 1959. As a result of the adequate control of blood pressure, strokes as a whole have dropped by about 30% and cerebral hemorrhage has halved. But there are signs of an increase in the prevalence of cerebral infarction, and multiple cerebral infarction in particular, among the elderly.<BR>In recent years, the Westernization of the dietary pattern has been in progress in rural communities, thereby raising the serum total cholesterol level among their residents. An epidemiological study of strokes in 1964-71 demonstrated minus correlations between serum total cholesterol and the incidence of cerebral thrombosis, but no such correlations are observed at present. Nor is any correlation observed between serum total cholesterol and cerebral infarction.