Differences in reporting Pearl Indices in the United States and Europe: Focus on a 91-day extended-regimen combined oral contraceptive with low-dose ethinyl estradiol supplementation.

Background: Regulatory agencies in the United States (US) and Europe differ in requirements for defining pregnancies after the last dose of oral contraceptive, sometimes resulting in discrepant Pearl Indices (PIs) for the same product despite identical clinical data. This brief report highlights one such example, a 91-day extended-regimen combined oral contraceptive (COC).

Methods: The US- and European-based PI methodologies were compared for a 91-day extended-regimen COC consisting of 84 days of active levonorgestrel/EE 150 μg/30 μg tablets, followed by seven days of EE 10 μg tablets in place of placebo.

[Some epidemiologic characteristics of foodborne intoxications in Croatia during the 1992-2001 period].

Epidemiologic characteristics of foodborne intoxications registered in Croatia during the 1992-2001 period are described. Salmonellosis, as well as staphylococcal food intoxication, foodborne botulism, Clostridium perfringens food intoxication, histamine poisoning and food intoxication caused by other pathogens, especially conditionally pathogenic bacteria, were analyzed. During the study period, 87,782 cases were reported, 45,721 (52.