Cardiovascular reactivity to mental stress in the Stockholm Female Coronary Risk Study.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the ability of mental stress testing to discriminate between women with and without CHD, and among women with different disease manifestations, taking into account history of hypertension and beta-blocker use. METHODS: Analyses were based on data from a community-based case-control study of women aged 65 years or younger. The study group consisted of 292 women who were hospitalized for an acute event of CHD, either AMI or unstable AP in Stockholm between 1991 and 1994. Controls were matched to cases by age and catchment area. Cardiovascular reactivity and emotional response to an anagram task solved under time pressure were measured 3 to 6 months after hospitalization. RESULTS: Patients reacted with smaller increases in heart rate (4 bpm) than their controls (7 bpm). Results for the rate-pressure product were similar. Cardiovascular reactions did not distinguish patients with AP from those with AMI. History of hypertension (present in 50% of patients and 11% of controls) was related to enhanced diastolic blood pressure reactivity. Patients on beta-blockers (66%) had lower heart-rate levels throughout testing, but did not differ in their cardiovascular stress reactions when compared with the remaining participants. CONCLUSIONS: Women with heart disease have somewhat lower heart-rate responses to stress than healthy age-matched controls. History of hypertension is related to enhanced diastolic blood pressure reactivity to mental stress in both patients and controls.

Marital stress worsens prognosis in women with coronary heart disease: The Stockholm Female Coronary Risk Study.

CONTEXT: Psychosocial stress has been associated with incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) in men, but the prognostic impact of such stress rarely has been studied in women. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prognostic impact of psychosocial work stress and marital stress among women with CHD. DESIGN AND SETTING: Population-based, prospective follow-up study conducted in the city of Stockholm, Sweden. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 292 consecutive female patients aged 30 to 65 years (n = 279 working or cohabiting with a male partner) who were hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction or unstable angina pectoris between February 1991 and February 1994. Patients were followed up from the date of clinical examination until August 1997 (median, 4.8 years). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Recurrent coronary events, including cardiac death, acute myocardial infarction, and revascularization procedures, by marital stress (assessed using the Stockholm Marital Stress Scale, a structured interview) and by work stress (assessed using the ratio of work demand to work control). RESULTS: Among women who were married or cohabiting with a male partner (n = 187), marital stress was associated with a 2.9-fold (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3-6. 5) increased risk of recurrent events after adjustment for age, estrogen status, education level, smoking, diagnosis at index event, diabetes mellitus, systolic blood pressure, smoking, triglyceride level, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level, and left ventricular dysfunction. Among working women (n = 200), work stress did not significantly predict recurrent coronary events (hazard ratio, 1.6; 95% CI, 0.8-3.3). CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that marital stress but not work stress predicts poor prognosis in women aged 30 to 65 years with CHD. These findings differ from previous findings in men and suggest that specific preventive measures be tailored to the needs of women with CHD.

Job stress and the occupational gradient in coronary heart disease risk in women. The Stockholm Female Coronary Risk Study.

Recent studies of men have shown that job stress is important in understanding the occupational gradient in coronary heart disease (CHD), but these relationships have rarely been studied in women. With increasing numbers of women in the workforce it is important to have a more complete understanding of how CHD risk may be mediated by job stress as well as other biological and behavioural risk factors. The objective of this study was to examine the occupational gradient in CHD risk in relation to job stress and other traditional risk factors in currently employed women. We used data from the Stockholm Female Coronary Risk Study, a population based case-control study, comprising 292 women with CHD aged 65 years or younger and 292 age-matched healthy women (controls). An inversely graded association was observed between occupational class and CHD risk. Compared with the highest (executive/professional), women in the lowest occupational class (semi/unskilled) had a four-fold (95% CI 1.75-8.83) increased age-adjusted risk for CHD. Simultaneous adjustment for traditional risk factors and job stress attenuated this risk to 2.45 (95% CI 1.01-6.14). Neither job control nor the Karasek demand-control model of job stress substantially explained the increased CHD risk of women in the lowest occupational classes. It is likely that lower occupational class working women face multiple and sometimes interacting sources of work and non-work stress that are mediated by behavioural and biological factors that increase their CHD risk.

Depressive symptoms and lack of social integration in relation to prognosis of CHD in middle-aged women. The Stockholm Female Coronary Risk Study.

AIMS: Several studies have reported that women with coronary heart disease have a poorer prognosis than men. Psychosocial factors, including social isolation and depressive symptoms have been suggested as a possible cause. However, little is known about these factors and their independent predictive value in women. Therefore, we investigated the prognostic impact of depression, lack of social integration and their interaction in the Stockholm Female Coronary Risk Study. METHODS AND RESULTS: Two hundred and ninety-two women patients aged 30 to 65 years and admitted for an acute coronary event between 1991 and 1994, were followed for 5 years from baseline assessments, which were performed between 3 and 6 months after admission. Lack of social integration and depressive symptoms, assessed at baseline by standardized questionnaires, were associated with recurrent events, including cardiovascular mortality, acute myocardial infarction and revascularization procedures (percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and coronary artery bypass grafting). Adjusting for age, diagnosis at index event, symptoms of heart failure, diabetes mellitus, high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, history of hypertension, systolic blood pressure, smoking, sedentary lifestyle, body mass index, and severity of angina pectoris symptoms, the hazard ratio associated with low (lowest quartile) as compared to high social integration (upper quartile) was 2.3 (95% CI 1.2-4.5) and the hazard ratio associated with two or more (upper three quartiles) as compared to one or no depressive symptoms was 1.9 (95% CI 1.02-3.6). CONCLUSIONS: The presence of two or more depressive symptoms and lack of social integration independently predicted recurrent cardiac events in women with coronary heart disease. Women who were free of both these risk factors, had the best prognosis.

Education and the metabolic syndrome in women.

OBJECTIVE: The main objective was to examine the association between the metabolic syndrome and socioeconomic position (as indicated by education) among women. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The study sample comprised healthy women (aged 30-65 years) in Sweden who were representative of the general population in a metropolitan area. Socioeconomic position was measured by educational level (mandatory [< or = 9 years], high school, or college/university). The metabolic syndrome was defined as the presence of two or more of the following components: 1) fasting plasma glucose level > or = 7.0 mmol/l; 2) arterial blood pressure > or = 160/90 mmHg; 3) fasting plasma triglycerides > or = 1.7 mmol/l and/or HDL cholesterol < 1.0 mmol/l; and 4) central obesity (waist-to-hip ratio > 0.85 and/or BMI > 30 kg/m2). RESULTS: After adjustment for age, the risk ratio for the presence of the metabolic syndrome comparing the lowest (< or = 9 years) with the highest (college/university) education was 2.7 (95% CI 1.1-6.8). This association persisted after controlling for menopausal status, family history of diabetes, and behavioral risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: Low education is associated with increased risk for metabolic syndrome in middle-aged women. These findings show that not only are women with low socioeconomic position at increased risk for individual risk factors that are associated with cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, they are also at increased risk for the metabolic clustering of risk factors.

Short stature and prognosis of coronary heart disease in women.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of short stature on prognosis following an acute event of coronary heart disease (CHD) in women. SETTING: All women who were hospitalized for an acute event of CHD in any of the 10 cardiology clinics in greater Stockholm were investigated for the first time in the Stockholm Female Coronary Risk Study between 1991 and 1994, and were followed until August 1997 for recurrent coronary events. DESIGN: A follow-up study of women with either acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or unstable angina pectoris. Median follow-up period was 4.8 years. SUBJECTS: A total of 292 Swedish women. aged 65 years or younger. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Recurrent AMI, death from CHD or revascularization procedure (percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and coronary artery bypass grafting). RESULTS: Independent of the confounding effects of other risk factors of clinical importance for CHD (age, socioeconomic status, menopausal status, index event, congestive heart failure, angina severity, diabetes, hypertension, smoking, triglycerides and HDL cholesterol), the shortest 25% of women (< 160 cm) had a 2.1-fold (95% CI = 1.0-4.4) increased rate of developing adverse cardiac events (cardiovascular death, recurrent AMI or revascularization procedure) compared with the tallest 25% (> 165 cm). In addition, an increased rate was observed for each 10 cm difference in height (hazard ratio = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.4-2.7). Similar results were observed when analysing each outcome separately. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that short stature is a strong predictor of poor prognosis after an acute coronary event in women, independent of socioeconomic status and other risk factors for CHD.

Socioeconomic status and determinants of hemostatic function in healthy women.

Hemostatic factors are reported to be associated with coronary heart disease (CHD). Socioeconomic status (SES) is 1 of the determinants of the hemostatic profile, but the factors underlying this association are not well known. Our aim was to examine determinants of the socioeconomic differences in hemostatic profile. Between 1991 and 1994, we studied 300 healthy women, aged 30 to 65 years, who were representative of women living in the greater Stockholm area. Fibrinogen, factor VII mass concentration (FVII:Ag), activated factor VII (FVIIa), von Willebrand factor (vWF), and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) were measured. Educational attainment was used as a measure of SES. Low educational level and an unfavorable hemostatic profile were both associated with older age, unhealthful life style, psychosocial stress, atherogenic biochemical factors, and hypertension. Levels of hemostatic factors increased with lower educational attainment. Independently of age, the differences between the lowest (mandatory) and highest (college/university) education in FVII:Ag levels were 41 microg/L (95% confidence interval [CI], 15 to 66 microg/L, P=0.001), 0.26 g/L (95% CI, 0.10 to 0.42 g/L, P=0.001) in fibrinogen levels, and 0.11 U/mL (95% CI, 0.09 to 0.12 U/mL, P=0.03) in levels of vWF. The corresponding differences in FVIIa and PAI-1 were not statistically significant. With further adjustment for menopausal status, family history of CHD, marital status, psychosocial stress, lifestyle patterns, biochemical factors, and hypertension, statistically significant differences between mandatory and college/university education were observed in FVII:Ag (difference=34 microg/L; 95% CI, 2 to 65 microg/L, P=0.05) but not in fibrinogen (difference=0.03 g/L; 95% CI, -0.13 to 0.19 g/L, P=0.92) or in vWF (difference=0.06 U/mL; 95% CI, -0.10 to 0.22 U/mL, P=0.45). An educational gradient was most consistent and statistically significant for FVII:Ag, fibrinogen, and vWF. Age, psychosocial stress, unhealthful life style, atherogenic biochemical factors, and hypertension mediated the association of low educational level with elevated levels of fibrinogen and vWF. Psychosocial stress and unhealthful life style were the most important contributing factors. There was an independent association between education and FVII:Ag, which could not be explained by any of these factors.

Psychosocial factors and heart rate variability in healthy women.

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to investigate associations between psychosocial risk factors, including social isolation, anger and depressive symptoms, and heart rate variability in healthy women. METHODS: The study group consisted of 300 healthy women (median age 57.5 years) who were representative of women living in the greater Stockholm area. For the measurement of social isolation, a condensed version of the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List was used and household size assessed. Anger was measured by the anger scales previously used in the Framingham study and depressive symptoms by a questionnaire derived from Pearlin. Health behaviors were measured by means of standard questionnaires. From 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring, both time and frequency domain measures were obtained: SDNN index (mean of the SDs of all normal to normal intervals for all 5-minute segments of the entire recording), VLF power (very low frequency power), LF power (low frequency power), HF power (high frequency power), and the LF/HF ratio (low frequency by high frequency ratio) were computed. RESULTS: Social isolation and inability to relieve anger by talking to others were associated with decreased heart rate variability. Depressive symptoms were related only to the LF/HF ratio. Adjusting for age, menopausal status, exercise and smoking habits, history of hypertension, and BMI did not substantially change the results. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest heart rate variability to be a mediating mechanism that could explain at least part of the reported associations between social isolation, suppressed anger, and health outcomes.

Social relations and the metabolic syndrome in middle-aged Swedish women.

BACKGROUND: Both social isolation and the metabolic syndrome are independently associated with greater than normal cardiovascular risk. DESIGN: A population-based cross-sectional study of middle-aged Swedish women. METHODS: The study group consisted of 300 healthy women (aged 31-65 years) who were representative of women living in the greater Stockholm area. Social isolation was measured by using a condensed version of the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List. Health behaviours were assessed and a full serum-lipid-level and haemostatic profile was obtained by standardized methods. The metabolic syndrome was defined as the presence of two or more of these components: fasting serum level of glucose > or = 7.0 mmol/l, arterial blood pressure > or = 160/90 mmHg, fasting serum level of triglycerides > or = 1.7 mmol/l or high-density lipoprotein < 1.0 mmol/l, or both, and central obesity (waist:hip ratio > 0.85 or body mass index > 30 kg/m2, or both). RESULTS: After adjustment for age, menopausal status, educational level, smoking, exercise habits and consumption of alcohol, the risk ratio for the metabolic syndrome for women in the lower compared with women in the upper social-support quartile was 3.5 (95% confidence interval 1.1-11.4), whereas that of women in the two middle quartiles was 2.2 (95% confidence interval 0.67-7.2; P for trend 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Social isolation was associated with the metabolic syndrome for these middle-aged women. The findings suggest that the metabolic syndrome and its components may be mediators of the reported association between social isolation and cardiovascular disease.

Social relations and extent and severity of coronary artery disease. The Stockholm Female Coronary Risk Study.

AIMS: Social relations have been repeatedly linked to coronary heart disease in men, even after careful control for standard risk factors. Women have rarely been studied and results have not been conclusive. We investigated the role of social support in the severity and extent of coronary artery disease in women. METHODS AND RESULTS: One hundred and thirty-one women, aged 30 to 65 years, who were hospitalized for an acute coronary event and were included in the Stockholm Female Coronary Risk Study, were examined with computer assisted quantitative coronary angiography. Angiographic measures included presence of stenosis greater than 50% in at least one coronary artery (severity) and the number of stenoses greater than 20% within the coronary tree (extent). Social factors included two measures of social support, which were previously shown to predict coronary disease in prospective studies of men. After adjustment for age, lack of social support was associated with both measures of coronary artery disease. With further adjustment for smoking, education, menopausal status, hypertension, high density lipoprotein and body mass index, the risk ratio for stenosis greater than 50% in women with poor as compared to those with strong social support was 2.5 (95% confidence interval 1.2 to 5.3; P=0.003). Also, women with poor social support had more stenoses obstructing at least 20% of the coronary lumen with multivariate adjustment, but the difference from women with strong support was only of borderline significance (P=0.09). CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that lack of social support contributes to the severity of coronary artery disease in women, independent of standard risk factors.

Depressive symptoms, social support, and lipid profile in healthy middle-aged women.

OBJECTIVE: Several studies have reported an inverse relationship between cholesterol levels and death from violent causes, including suicide. Because depression and depressive symptoms are associated with suicide and trauma, the relation between cholesterol and depressive symptoms is of interest. The objective of the present study was to examine this relationship in a group of healthy women. The second main objective of the study was to investigate the association between cholesterol and other psychosocial factors (social support, vital exhaustion, and stressful life-events), which are known to be related to depression. METHOD: The study group consisted of 300 healthy women (aged 31 to 65 years) who were representative of women living in the greater Stockholm area. Depressive symptoms were measured by a nine-item questionnaire derived from Pearlin. For the measurement of social support a modified version of the Interview Schedule for Social Interaction was used. Health behaviors were measured by means of standard questionnaires. Lipids were analyzed by enzymatic and immunoturbidometric methods. RESULTS: Women with a low serum cholesterol, defined as the lowest tenth of the cholesterol distribution (< or = 4.7 mmol/l), reported significantly more depressive symptoms. In addition, depressive symptoms showed a significant inverse linear association with high-density lipoprotein (HDL). In multivariate models, which adjusted for smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise habits, body-mass index, waist-hip ratio, menopausal status, age, and educational level, these associations remained significant. In addition, when analyzed in relation to other psychosocial factors, low cholesterol was found to be strongly associated with lack of social support. This association was not explained by depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Low cholesterol levels in middle-aged healthy Swedish women were associated with a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms and with lack of social support. These findings may constitute a possible mechanism for the association found between low cholesterol and increased mortality, particularly suicide.

Maternal thyroid peroxidase antibodies during pregnancy: a marker of impaired child development?

Women with antibodies against the enzyme thyroid peroxidase [TPO-Ab; formerly microsomal antibodies (MsAb)] are at particular risk for developing postpartum thyroid dysfunction; the latter is significantly associated with postpartum depression. Although the negative effect of postpartum maternal depression on child development is well documented, the consequences of elevated titers of TPO-Ab during pregnancy and subsequent postpartum thyroid dysfunction on child development are not known. In a prospective study of a cohort of 293 pregnant women, the occurrence of TPO-Ab during gestation, thyroid dysfunction, and depression was investigated. Five years after delivery, child development was assessed in 230 children of the original cohort using the Dutch translation of the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities. Children of women with TPO-Ab during late gestation (n = 19, with normal thyroid function) had significantly lower scores (by t test) on the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities than antibody-negative women. The difference on the General Cognitive Scale, which reflects IQ scores, was substantial (10.5 points; t = 2.8; P = 0.005). After correction for possibly confounding variables, maternal TPO-Ab during gestation was found to be the most important factor related to the scores on the General Cognitive Scale (odds ratio = 10.5; 95% confidence interval = 3-34; P = 0.003). We conclude that children of pregnant women who had elevated titers of TPO-Ab but normal thyroid function are at risk for impaired development.