Kristenson, M., K. Orth-GomZr, et al. (1998). "Attenuated Cortisol Response to a Standardized Stress Test in Lithuanian Versus Swedish Men: The LiVicordia Study." International Journal of Behavioral Medicine 5(1): 17-30.

Epidemiologists are on the verge of better understanding the relationship between hierarchy, psychosocial stress, and disease. This study is one of the first to compare two different populations, that are relatively close geographically and culturally, but have quite different mortality from heart disease that is not explained by the usual risk factors. One group (comprised of men from the population with more heart disease) appears to have higher psychosocial stress that is correlated to elevated baseline cortisol levels and a blunted response to a stress test in comparison to men from the other city. This is consistent with the primate data elaborated above.

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 Linkšping, Sweden. Repeated measures analysis of variance showed that cortisol responses difference between cities (p's<.0001). Mean change of serum cortisol from baseline to 30 min was 18.1 and 88.4 nmol/l for Vilnius and Linkšping 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.

Keywords

psychosocial stress, cortisol, heart disease