Benign and malignant breast tumours: epidemiological similarities.

Reproductive risk factors were estimated for 783 cases of cystic disease of the breast, 155 fibroadenoma, 94 miscellaneous breast conditions, and 284 breast cancers. Controls were matched for age, race, ever-married status, time of hospitalization and pay status. The most consistent attributes are a tendency to be still premenopausal, to have had her first pregnancy beyond the age of twenty-five years (or to have had none), and to have had fewer total pregnancies than the control. All are associated with a longer menstrual life prior to onset of the disease than the controls. Findings for cystic disease are compared with other studies. Patients with benign breast disease share some of the demonstrated risk factors for breast cancer.

Exogenous hormones, reproductive history, and breast cancer.

We studied 284 patients (20-74 years of age) with carcinoma of the breast and 367 controls; all were admitted to one hospital between 1969 and 1972. The disease was associated with nulliparity, first pregnancy over 20 years of age, premenopausal status, and a lower frequency of artificial menopause. After adjustment for these factors, no significant difference was found between the breast cancer patients and controls in their prior use of either estrogens or oral contraceptives, but the confidence limits on the relative risk, especially for oral contraceptives, were large.

Myocardial infarction in younger women. Associated clinical features and relationship to use of oral contraceptive drugs.

In a study of thromboembolism and oral contraceptive drugs, 136 cases of myocardial infarction in women aged 30 to 44 years were identified, a rare disease in women of this age group. Data from their hospital medical records were compared with those of several other groups, including women without chronic disease admitted for various acute or elective conditions unrelated to thromboembolism, patients with thromboembolic disease other than myocardial infarction, and women queried or examined in the National Health Survey. The following attributes were found to be associated with myocardial infarction in younger women: presence of diabetes; hypertension; history of increased cigarette smoking; and hypercholesterolemia. A history of the use of oral contraceptive drugs was found with greater frequency in cases than in controls. The literature on the possible association of myocardial infarction and the use of oral contraceptives was reviewed.

Onchocerciasis in Guatemala. I. Epidermiological studies of microfilaruria.

Microfilariae of Onchocerca volvulus were detected in the urine of 65 residents of three coffee plantations near Yepocapa, Guatemala. In this area the prevalence of microfilaruria is estimated to be between 17% and 30% of the population 10 years of age and older. Almost all of the people examined had clinical manifestations of onchocerciasis and 80% of them had microfilariae in skin snips. The frequency of microfilaruria is associated with the number of microfilariae in the skin. Within each age group those who had lived longer on the coffee plantations were more likely to have microfilariae in a skin snip and more likely to have microfilariae in their urine. The presence of subcutaneous nodules or history of prior nodulectomy did not reduce the incidence of microfilaruria nor did the presence of subcutaneous nodules increase the incidence of microfilariae in the urine.