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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Aug 1.
Published in final edited form as: Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 2011 Feb 7;22(5):528–536. doi: 10.1111/j.1399-3038.2010.01135.x

Table 2.

Associations of oral contraceptive pill (OCP) use before pregnancy with lower respiratory tract infections in 60,225 children followed to 6 months old and 42,520 children followed to 18 months old.

N (%)a,c of children with:
Lower
respiratory
tract
infections
Timing of
OCP use
Type of OCP Lower
respiratory
tract
infections
No lower
respiratory
tract
infections
Crude
OR (95% CI)
Adjustedc
OR (95% CI)
Total 3,021 57,204
<6 months Year before
pregnancy
No OCPs 1,927 (64) 34,621 (61) 1.00 (referent) 1.00 (referent)
Combined pills only 808 (27) 18,978 (33) 0.77 (0.70–0.83) 1.03 (0.94–1.13)
Mini-pills only 240 (8) 3,046 (5) 1.42 (1.23–1.63) 1.10 (0.95–1.28)
4 months before
pregnancy
No OCPs 2,417 (80) 44,685 (78) 1.00 (referent) 1.00 (referent)
Combined pills only 441 (15) 10,230 (18) 0.80 (0.72–0.88) 1.07 (0.96–1.20)
Mini-pills only 121 (4) 1,600 (3) 1.40 (1.16–1.69) 1.09 (0.89–1.34)

Total 2,863 38,515
6–11 months Year before
pregnancy
No OCPs 1,765 (62) 23,134 (60) 1.00 (referent) 1.00 (referent)
Combined pills only 866 (30) 12,934 (34) 0.88 (0.81–0.96) 1.00 (0.91–1.09)
Mini-pills only 194 (7) 2,083 (5) 1.22 (1.05–1.43) 1.05 (0.89–1.24)
4 months before
pregnancy
No OCPs 2,271 (79) 29,961 (78) 1.00 (referent) 1.00 (referent)
Combined pills only 457 (16) 6,988 (18) 0.86 (0.78–0.96) 0.95 (0.85–1.07)
Mini-pills only 99 (4) 1,121 (3) 1.17 (0.95–1.44) 0.95 (0.76–1.19)

Total 3,480 38,063
12–18 months Year before
pregnancy
No OCPs 2,058 (59) 22,919 (60) 1.00 (referent) 1.00 (referent)
Combined pills only 1,180 (34) 12,700 (33) 1.04 (0.96–1.12) 1.03 (0.95–1.12)
Mini-pills only 199 (6) 2,083 (6) 1.06 (0.91–1.24) 1.07 (0.91–1.26)
4 months before
pregnancy
No OCPs 2,712 (78) 29,643 (78) 1.00 (referent) 1.00 (referent)
Combined pills only 632 (18) 6,855 (18) 1.01 (0.92–1.10) 1.00 (0.91–1.11)
Mini-pills only 99 (3) 1,123 (3) 0.96 (0.78–1.19) 0.98 (0.79–1.22)
a

Number and percentage of children correspond to the crude models. For lower respiratory tract infections at <6 months, analyses included 60,225 children in crude models and 54,234 children in adjusted models. Analyses for lower respiratory tract infections at 6–11 months included 41,378 children in crude models and 37,574 children in adjusted models. Analyses for lower respiratory tract infections at 12–18 months included 41,543 children in crude models and 37,737 children in adjusted models.

b

Percentages were calculated using the total number of cases or controls as the denominator. The small category of children whose mothers reported using both combined pills and mini-pills in the year before pregnancy is not shown. For OCP use in the four months before pregnancy, data is missing for a small proportion of the children.

c

Estimates were adjusted for maternal history of asthma and atopy (neither, asthma only, atopy only, both), maternal age (<25, 25–30, >30 years), smoking during first trimester of pregnancy (yes/no), folate supplementation during first trimester of pregnancy (yes/no), number of previous live births (0,1,>1), pre-pregnancy body mass index (<18.5, 18.5–24.9, 25.0–29.9, >29.9), maternal education (<13, 13–16, >16 years), maternal income (<150,000, 150,000–299,000, >299,000 Nkr), child’s sex, child’s gestational age (<37, 37–38, 39–41, >41 weeks), parental smoking in the first 3 months after birth (yes/no), breastfeeding at 6 months (yes/no), season of birth (Mar-May, Jun-Aug, Sep-Nov, Dec-Feb), and year of birth.