Low serum cholesterol as a risk factor for hemorrhagic stroke in men - A community-based mass screening in Okinawa, Japan

The relation between the level of total serum cholesterol and stroke is con troversial. The relation between serum total cholesterol and subtypes of st roke was examined in the participants of a community-based mass screening p rogram in Okinawa, Japan. A total of 38,053 subjects, whose serum level of cholesterol had been determined during a mass screening carried out in 1983 , were examined to see whether they had experienced stroke during a 3-year period from 1988 to 1991. Of them, 315 subjects aged 33-93 years (174 men, 141 women) had had a stroke during that period. The types of stroke were ce rebral infarction in 164, cerebral hemorrhage in ill, subarachnoid hemorrha ge in 19, and others in 21. In men, the odds ratio of cerebral hemorrhage w as 0.71 (95% confidence interval, 0.55-0.95), and the odds ratio of cerebra l hemorrhage associated with serum level of cholesterol less than or equal to 167 mg/dl, 168-191 mg/dl, 192-217 mg/dl, and greater than or equal to 21 8 mg/dl were 1.00 (reference), 0.70 (0.38-1.30), 0.77 (0.55-1.08), 0.73 (0. 56-0.96), respectively. Lower serum cholesterol was an independent predicto r of cerebral hemorrhage in men.