While coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death in women beyond age 60, research in the area is lacking, especially concerning psychosocial risk factors, the relationship between psychosocial and other risk factors, and the efficacy of psychosocial risk factor modification.

The major objective of the proposed research is to determine whether and to what extent psychosocial risk factor modification is effective in reducing the risk of diet-induced atherosclerosis in female monkeys.

Other specific aims include the characterization of the nature of the relationship between atherosclerosis and social status, a psychosocial variable previously observed to be associated with atherosclerosis; and the delineation of relationships between social status and other risk factors. Data produced by this experiment will increase basic knowledge of psychosocial risk factors of CHD in females, and may have a direct bearing on the design and implementation of clinical trials of psychosocial risk factor modification.

The proposed experiment requires 48 adult female cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis), fed an atherogenic diet and living in social groups of four animals each. Experimental manipulation will result in four groups: 1) females that are socially dominant before and after the manipulation, 2) females that are dominant before and subordinate after manipulation, 3) females that are subordinate before and dominant after manipulation, and 4) females that are subordinate before and after manipulation. Comparison of atherosclerosis and related behavioral and clinicopathologic risk variables among groups will provide data on the relative efficacy of psychosocial risk factor modification.

R01HL039789

1988-04-01

1993-03-31