Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health logoLink to Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
. 1992 Jun;46(3):234–236. doi: 10.1136/jech.46.3.234

Oral contraceptives and non-contraceptive oestrogens in the risk of gallstone disease requiring surgery.

C La Vecchia 1, E Negri 1, B D'Avanzo 1, F Parazzini 1, A Gentile 1, S Franceschi 1
PMCID: PMC1059558  PMID: 1645077

Abstract

STUDY OBJECTIVE--The aim was to investigate the relationship between oral contraceptives, non-contraceptive oestrogens, and the risk of gallstone disease requiring surgery. DESIGN--This was a hospital based case-control study carried out between 1987 and 1990. Main outcome measures were frequency of consumption of oral contraceptives and non-contraceptive oestrogens, and the corresponding multivariate relative risk estimates and 95% confidence intervals (CI) in relation to various measures of use of the preparations. SETTING--A network including major teaching and general hospitals in the greater Milan area, northern Italy. SUBJECTS--Subjects were 235 women with gallstones requiring surgery and 538 controls admitted for acute diseases, other than digestive or hormonal diseases or those potentially influencing the use of female hormone preparations. MAIN RESULTS--For oral contraceptives, the relative risk for ever use was 0.8 with 95% CI 0.4 to 1.5. With reference to duration of use, the multivariate relative risk was 1.0 for less than two and 0.5 for two or more years of use. The relative risk was 1.7 (95% CI 0.6 to 4.7) in women who had last used the pill less than five years before diagnosis, but declined to 0.4 (95% CI 0.2 to 1.0) in those who had stopped more than five years before. With reference to oestrogen replacement treatment, the relative risk for ever use was 1.9 (95% CI 1.0 to 3.1). The relative risk, however, was not related to duration of use, since it was 1.8 for less than two and 1.5 for two or more years of use. Relative risk was higher for women who had last used non-contraceptive oestrogens 10 or more years before diagnosis (2.4) than for shorter periods since last use (1.3). CONCLUSIONS--On a clinical and public health scale, oral contraceptives and non-contraceptive oestrogens are unlikely to have an important influence in the aetiology of gallbladder disease.

Full text

PDF
236

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bennion L. J., Grundy S. M. Risk factors for the development of cholelithiasis in man (first of two parts). N Engl J Med. 1978 Nov 23;299(21):1161–1167. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197811232992104. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Hoover R., Bain C., Cole P., MacMahon B. Oral contraceptive use: association with frequency of hospitalization and chronic disease risk indicators. Am J Public Health. 1978 Apr;68(4):335–341. doi: 10.2105/ajph.68.4.335. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Kakar F., Weiss N. S., Strite S. A. Non-contraceptive estrogen use and the risk of gallstone disease in women. Am J Public Health. 1988 May;78(5):564–566. doi: 10.2105/ajph.78.5.564. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. La Vecchia C., Decarli A., Parazzini F., Gentile A., Negri E., Franceschi S. Determinants of oral contraceptive use in northern Italy. Contraception. 1986 Aug;34(2):145–156. doi: 10.1016/0010-7824(86)90067-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Layde P. M., Vessey M. P., Yeates D. Risk factors for gall-bladder disease: a cohort study of young women attending family planning clinics. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1982 Dec;36(4):274–278. doi: 10.1136/jech.36.4.274. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. MANTEL N., HAENSZEL W. Statistical aspects of the analysis of data from retrospective studies of disease. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1959 Apr;22(4):719–748. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Paganini-Hill A., Ross R. K., Gerkins V. R., Henderson B. E., Arthur M., Mack T. M. Menopausal estrogen therapy and hip fractures. Ann Intern Med. 1981 Jul;95(1):28–31. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-95-1-28. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Scragg R. K., McMichael A. J., Seamark R. F. Oral contraceptives, pregnancy, and endogenous oestrogen in gall stone disease--a case-control study. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1984 Jun 16;288(6433):1795–1799. doi: 10.1136/bmj.288.6433.1795. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Weiss N. S., Ure C. L., Ballard J. H., Williams A. R., Daling J. R. Decreased risk of fractures of the hip and lower forearm with postmenopausal use of estrogen. N Engl J Med. 1980 Nov 20;303(21):1195–1198. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198011203032102. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. la Vecchia C., Negri E., Levi F., Baron J. A. Cigarette smoking, body mass and other risk factors for fractures of the hip in women. Int J Epidemiol. 1991 Sep;20(3):671–677. doi: 10.1093/ije/20.3.671. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES