By Megan Rauscher NEW YORK, May 31 (Reuters Health) - Middle-aged men who have an extra boost in blood pressure when they are under stress may be at higher risk of having a stroke, researchers report. The relationship appears to be particularly strong in men of low socioeconomic status, according to the report in the June issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. "There appears to be a toxic combination, wherein

individuals who are highly responsive to emotional stress--when put in the difficult situations more prevalent among those of lower socioeconomic position--have a very heightened risk of stroke," Dr. George A.Kaplan, a co-author on the study, told Reuters Health. "Once again,"he added, "we see the important impact of low socioeconomic position on health out comes."In the study, Dr. Susan A. Everson of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and colleagues measured blood pressure of more than 2,000middle-aged men at two points. Once when they were resting comfortably, and once when they were about to take a treadmill test to measure their heart disease risk--a relatively stressful situation. The investigators discovered that men with an above-average increase in systolic blood pressure--the first number in a blood pressure reading--when they were under stress had a 72% greater risk of any type of stroke. Those men also had an 87% greater risk of ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke. Ischemic strokes are usually caused by a blockage of a blood vessel, most often a clot. An above average increase in blood pressure was defined as an increase of 20 mmHg or more. Further, Everson's team found that men who had exaggerated systolicre activity and low educational attainment were nearly three times more likely to have a stroke than better educated, less reactive men. "I think people should recognize that physical changes occur when they are under stress that can have adverse cardiovascular effects, "Everson explained in a statement issued by the American Heart Association. "The more we know about factors that might increase therisk of stroke, the greater the likelihood that we can work towards prevention ."SOURCE: Stroke 2001;32.