Lynn Rosenberg

Early menopause and the risk of myocardial infarction.

We evaluated the relation between age at menopause and the risk of nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI) among 121,964 nurses who responded to a mail questionnaire. Of 279 women who reported having been hospitalized for MI, 123 (44%) were postmenopausal (i.e., no longer menstruating) at the time of hospitalization, compared with 1,859 (33%) of 5,580 age-matched control subjects. Among women who became menopausal because of bilateral oophorectomy, the estimated relative risk of MI increased with decreasing age at menopause, and women who underwent bilateral oophorectomy before age 35 were estimated to have a risk of hospitalization for MI approximately 7.2 times (95% confidence interval, 4.5 to 11.4) that of premenopausal women. Hysterectomy without the removal of both ovaries was only weakly associated with an increased risk. The data support the hypothesis that premature cessation of ovarian function increases the risk of nonfatal MI.

Birth defects in relation to Bendectin use in pregnancy. II. Pyloric stenosis.

To test the hypothesis that the use of Bendectin in pregnancy increases the risk of pyloric stenosis, we determined rates of antenatal Bendectin exposure among 325 infants with pyloric stenosis and among two control groups comprising infants with other defects; one consisted of 3,153 infants with other conditions, and the other, a subset of that group, consisted of 724 infants with defects that may have had their origins at any time in pregnancy. Comparisons between the cases and the two control series yielded estimated relative risks of 0.9 (95% confidence interval, 0.6 to 1.2) and 1.0 (0.7 to 1.4), respectively. The findings from this large case-control study suggest that Bendectin does not increase the risk of pyloric stenosis.

Maternal drug exposure and fetal abnormalities. Material and methods.

Data derived from a cohort of 50,897 pregnancies that occurred between 1959 and 1965 are currently being evaluated to determine whether any associations between maternal drug exposure and abnormalities in the offspring exist. In this report, the cohort being studied is briefly described, and the methods used to identify associations, together with factors that confound them, are outlined. Also presented are the techniques used to control for these factors in evaluating the associations. Issues concerning causal interpretation of associations that remain after confounding factors have been controlled are discussed.

Oral Contraceptive Use and Reproductive Risk Factors for Breast Cancer: A Comparison of Results among Black and White Women

Studies of breast cancer have yielded conflicting results on the effects of age at first term birth, parity, and oral contraceptive (OC) use. We assessed these relations separately in black and in white US women aged 25–59 years in a hospital-based case-control study; 524 black cases were compared with 1021 black controls, and 3540 white cases were compared with 4488 white controls. In both racial groups, the risk of breast cancer increased with increasing age at first birth. Multiparity was associated with an increased risk before age 35 in both groups, and a reduced risk in black women aged 35–59 and in white women aged 35–44. OC use was associated with an increased risk among black women under age 45 and among white women under age 35.

Drug Surveillance by Case-Control Methods as Means for Detecting Side-Effects of Oral Contraceptives

In July, 1976, the Drug Epidemiology Unit commenced a large scale system of case-control surveillance designed to provide a data base that among other things could fulfil the following objectives: firstly, the detection of previously unsuspected relationships between specific illnesses and specific drugs; and secondly, the evaluation of existing hypotheses concerning drug/illness relationships. The second objective applies both to hypotheses generated from within the data base itself, and to hypotheses proposed elsewhere.

Medikamenteüberwachung mit Fall-Kontroll-Ansätzen ALS Ein Weg zum Entdecken von Nebenwirkungen Oraler Kontrazeptiva

Die Drug-Epidemiology-Unit begann im Juli 1976 ein grosangelegtes System von Fall-Kontroll-Uberwachung. Dieses System soll die Datenbasis zur Verfugung stellen, um u.a. folgende Ziele zu verfolgen: 1. Die Entdeckung von bis dahin unvermuteten Beziehungen zwischen bestimmten Krankheiten und bestimmten Medikamenten; und 2. die Auswertung bestehender Hypothesen bezuglich Medikament — Krankheit-Beziehungen.