Ecological factors affecting mortality from cerebrovascular, ischemic heart and hypertensive diseases by age and sex.

Abstract

The effects of a wide variety of ecological factors on the age-specific mortality rates from cerebrovascular, ischemic heart and hypertensive diseases in 46 prefectures in Japan for the years 1970 and 1975 were analyzed by stepwise regression analysis. The following factors were positively related to the mortality rates in the two years: (1) rural residence for cerebrovascular disease in middle-aged and elderly persons and young men, and for ischemic heart disease in middle-aged persons; (2) low income for hypertensive disease in elderly persons and middle-aged women; and (3) urban residence for cerebrovascular disease in middle-aged men. In contrast, the aged population factor was inversely related to the mortality from ischemic heart disease in elderly persons and to that from cerebrovascular disease in middle-aged men. The mortality from ischemic heart disease in women aged 65-and-above significantly increased between 1970 and 1975.