Oral Contraceptives and Nonfatal Stroke in Healthy Young Women

doi:10.1059/0003-4819-89-1-58

Oral Contraceptives and Nonfatal Stroke in Healthy Young Women

HERSHEL JICK, M.D.;
JANE PORTER, M.S.; and
KENNETH J. ROTHMAN, Dr. P.H.

Boston, Massachusetts

Abstract

The Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program obtained medical histories on 29 premenopausal women with a discharge diagnosis of stroke. Of these women, 14 were otherwise healthy with no known predisposing illnesses. Eleven of the 14 patients were taking oral contraceptives just before admission compared with seven of 56 otherwise healthy control women (13%). The relative risk estimate for stroke among oral contraceptive users compared with nonusers is 26 (lower 90% one-sided confidence bound = 7.0). Cigarette smoking was only weakly associated with stroke in this group of women.

Article and Author Information

▸From the Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program, Boston University Medical Center; and the Department of Epidemiology, Harvard University School of Public Health; Boston, Massachusetts.
The hospitals in Massachusetts that participated in the 1972 special survey are: Beth Israel Hospital, Beverly Hospital, Boston University Hospital, Boston Veterans Administration Hospital, Brockton Hospital, Cardinal Cushing Hospital, Emerson Hospital, Faulkner Hospital, Framingham Union Hospital, Lawrence Memorial Hospital, Leonard Morse Hospital, Malden Hospital, Marlboro Hospital, Mount Auburn Hospital, New England Medical Center Hospital, New England Memorial Hospital, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Norwood Hospital, Quincy City Hospital, Salem Hospital, Sancta Maria Hospital, South Shore Hospital, Symmes Hospital, and Waltham Hospital.
Grant support: The Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program has been supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (Grant No. 1 RO1 GM23430-01); and in part by grants from the United States Food and Drug Administration (Grant No. 1 RO1 FD 00920-01); the Canadian Health Protection Branch; the Israeli Ministry of Health; the Hadassah Medical Organization; the Kupat-Holim; Auckland Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand; the Roger Williams General Hospital (Brown University NIGMS Grant No. GM-165-38-02); and the Scottish Home and Health Department.
▸Requests for reprints should be addressed to Hershel Jick, M.D.; Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program; 400 Totten Pond Road; Waltham, MA 02154.
- Received November 18, 1977.
- Accepted February 20, 1978.