Purpose in life may cut risk of stroke

BY KENJI TAMURA, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

Men who feel they have something to live for run a significantly lower risk of dying from a cerebral stroke, even if they are under mental stress, a 15-year study in Akita Prefecture has found.

The study, by an Akita University team as part of an education ministry project, covered 1,600 men and women in the town of Omori, now merged with Yokote city.

The results suggest that finding a purpose and joy in life may override the purported risk of suffering a stroke due to stress, the team said. It added that it did not know yet why there is such a difference.

The 1,600 residents of Omori underwent a health examination in 1988, when they were aged 40 to 74.

In addition to the checkups, participants were asked: "Do you have something to live for?" and "Do you think you have a lot of stress?"

The team followed the group until 2003. By then, 249 men and women had died.

Of the 355 men who had said they had something to live for or a lot to live for, 58 had died. Of those, four died of a cerebral stroke.

By comparison, of 477 men who had said they did not have much in particular to live for or who did not know, 114 had died. In this group, 19 died of a stroke.

The risks of death were calculated after excluding the effects of age, blood pressure problems, smoking and other factors.

The team found that men who said they had something to live for ran a 38 percent lower risk of dying than men who did not.

Moreover, the risk of dying of a stroke was as much as 72 percent lower for those with something to live for.

No such statistical difference was found for heart disease or cancer, according to the team.

About one in five men studied said they had a lot of stress, but the risk of fatal stroke was still lower for those who said they had something to live for.

The team found no significant differences among the women in the study.

Yutaka Motohashi, a professor of public health, led the study. He also runs a suicide-prevention project for the elderly that helps them find a purpose in life. He said that such efforts could also help improve the residents' collective health.

Motohashi said he hopes to conduct a similar survey in urban areas.(IHT/Asahi: December 12,2008)