The relation between cholesterol and haemorrhagic or ischaemic stroke in the Renfrew/Paisley study

Abstract

The Renfrew/Paisley study was carried out between 1972 and 1976 involving 15 406 residents aged 45–64 from the towns of Renfrew and Paisley.1 The linkage provided records of all main diagnoses of stroke in a 20 year follow up period. There was no information on participants having strokes and not being admitted to hospital, but with this relatively young age group, most would be admitted. Blood samples were taken for the measurement of plasma cholesterol, measured in mg/dl and converted to mmol/l by multiplication by 0.0259. After excluding participants with missing cholesterol readings, there were 6997 men and 8270 women. Cholesterol quintiles were calculated separately for men and women, as women have higher concentrations of cholesterol than men.2Cholesterol groups were formed by taking each fifth as the corresponding fifth for men and for women.