ORAL CONTRACEPTIVES AND RELATIVE RISK OF DEATH FROM VENOUS AND PULMONARY THROMBOEMBOLISM IN UNITED STATES

Seigel, D. G. (Nat. Inst. Child Health and Human Development, NIH, Bethesda, Md. 20014) and R. E Markush. Oral contraceptives and relative risk of death from venous and pulmonary thromboembolism in the United States. Amer. J. Epid.., 1969, 90: 11-16.-Mortality rates in International Classification of Disease (ICD) Seventh Revision Categories 460-468, Diseases of Veins and other Disease of Circulatory System, have been observed to be increasing in recent years at a greater rate for women in the reproductive ages than for men of the same age or for women in an earlier time period. This is consistent with the widespread use of oral contraceptives in the U. S. and the risk from thromboembolic disorders associated with them that has been reported in British case-control studies. In this report a model is developed with which the relative risk of mortality from causes coded to ICD Categories 460-468 is estimated for oral contraceptive users. The relative risk is of the same order of magnitude as the estimates provided by the British studies, indicating that the changes in mortality for ICD 460-468 in this country are compatible with the British data. © 1969, by THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY.