Oral contraceptive use and cancer: final report from the Oxford-Family Planning Association contraceptive study.

Background: This analysis provides the final results on cancer incidence in relation to oral contraceptive (OC) use from the Oxford-Family Planning Association (Oxford-FPA) contraceptive study, which closed at the end of 2010. An additional 6 years of observation have been added since our last report and there has been an increase in the numbers of cancers of over 50% at seven of the sites considered.

Study Design: The Oxford-FPA study includes 17032 women aged 25-39 years recruited from 1968 to 1974 at contraceptive clinics in England and Scotland.

The impact of Jade Goody's diagnosis and death on the NHS Cervical Screening Programme.

Objectives: In August 2008 the British reality TV star Jade Goody made public her diagnosis of cervical cancer. In February 2009 it was announced that she was terminally ill and she died a few weeks later. A surge in cervical screening attendances associated with these events was widely reported.

Factors affecting mortality in a large cohort study with special reference to oral contraceptive use.

Background: This analysis updates mortality in the Oxford-Family Planning Association (Oxford-FPA) contraceptive study, with emphasis on oral contraceptive (OC) use.

Study Design: The Oxford-FPA study includes 17,032 women recruited from 1968-1974 at contraceptive clinics, aged 25-39 years, using OCs a diaphragm or an intrauterine device. Follow-up has been to March 2009; by then, 1715 women had died.

A fall-off in cervical screening coverage of younger women in developed countries.

Objectives: To analyse cervical screening coverage data by age over time in a number of developed countries throughout the world, with specific emphasis on trends for younger women and on age differentials between younger and older women.

Methods: Routinely collected cervical screening statistics and survey data were collected on the proportion of women who have undergone cervical screening with cytology in seven countries in the period 1995 to 2005.

Results: Data for the 25-29 age group were examined.

Benign breast disease and subsequent breast cancer: English record linkage studies.

Background: Benign breast disease (BBD) increases the risk of breast cancer, but details of the relationship would benefit from further study in the UK.

Methods: Analysis of linked statistical abstracts of hospital data, including a cohort of 20 976 women with BBD in an Oxford data set and 89 268 such women in an English national data set.

Results: Rate ratios (RRs) for breast cancer, comparing BBD and comparison cohorts in these two data sets, were 2.

Some minor female reproductive system disorders: findings in the Oxford-Family Planning Association contraceptive study.

Background: The Oxford-Family Planning Association (Oxford-FPA) contraceptive study has provided information on many serious diseases of the female reproductive tract. No information has been published about a number of common minor conditions. This report fills the gap with regard to uterine polyp, cervicitis, cervical erosion, and vaginitis and vulvitis.

A cohort effect in cervical screening coverage?

Objectives: The objective of this study is to analyse cervical screening coverage data over time.

Methods: Routinely collected cervical screening statistics, in England, on the proportion of women who have undergone cervical screening with cytology during the preceding five years. The participants included all women residents eligible for cervical screening.

Oral contraceptives and benign breast disease: an update of findings in a large cohort study.

Background: This report is an update of findings, first reported in 1981, on the relationship between oral contraceptives (OCs) and benign breast disease with special reference to OCs containing <50 mcg estrogen.

Study Design: The Oxford-Family Planning Association study includes 17,032 women using different methods of contraception recruited at 17 family planning clinics between 1968 and 1974. These women were subsequently followed up until mid-1994.

Active and passive smoking and the risk of breast cancer in women aged 36-45 years: a population based case-control study in the UK.

Active smoking has little or no effect on breast cancer risk but some investigators have suggested that passive smoking and its interaction with active smoking may be associated with an increased risk. In a population based case-control study of breast cancer in women aged 36-45 years at diagnosis, information on active smoking, passive smoking in the home, and other factors, was collected at interview from 639 cases and 640 controls. Women were categorised jointly by their active and passive smoking exposure.

Oral contraceptive use and cancer. Findings in a large cohort study, 1968-2004.

We examined cancer incidence in relation to oral contraceptive (OC) use in the Oxford Family Planning Association contraceptive study. The study includes 17032 women, recruited at family planning clinics at ages 25-39 years between 1968 and 1974, who were using OCs, a diaphragm, or an intrauterine device. Follow-up data were available until 2004.

Pregnancy outcome among twins conceived after subfertility treatment compared with natural twins: A population-based study.

Pregnancy outcome and characteristics of women who conceive following subfertility treatment remains a subject of great interest. We analyzed these variables among 199 women who delivered a registerable twin birth compared with 1773 women who delivered a naturally conceived twin birth in a population-based obstetric cohort drawn from around Oxford, England. Treatment was restricted to conceptions involving simple ovulation induction only.

Effect of testing for human papillomavirus as a triage during screening for cervical cancer: observational before and after study.

Objective: To assess the effect of introducing testing for human papillomavirus combined with liquid based cytology in women with low grade cytological abnormalities.

Design: Observational before and after study.

Setting: Three cervical screening laboratories, England.

Contraception and unexplained abdominal pain.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that hospital referral for unexplained abdominal pain might occur less frequently in oral contraceptive (OC) users and more frequently in intrauterine device (IUD) users than in other women.

Design: Prospective cohort study of 17 032 women using different methods of contraception [the Oxford-Family Planning Association (FPA) contraceptive study].

Outcome Measure: Referral to hospital for unexplained abdominal pain (including pelvic pain) coded to ICD rubric 785.

Effects of combustion and operating conditions on PCDD/PCDF emissions from power boilers burning salt-laden wood waste.

This paper discusses the effects of combustion conditions on PCDD/PCDF emissions from pulp and paper power boilers burning salt-laden wood waste. We found no correlation between PCDD/PCDF emissions and carbon monoxide emissions. A good correlation was, however, observed between PCDD/PCDF emissions and the concentration of stack polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the absence of TDF addition.

Body fatness and physical activity at young ages and the risk of breast cancer in premenopausal women.

We examined the relationship between body fatness, sports participation and breast cancer risk in 1560 premenopausal cases and 1548 controls, from three related population-based case-control studies in the UK. Half of the women with breast cancer were aged less than 36 years at diagnosis. Women who perceived themselves as plump at age 10 years had a relative risk of 0.

Postmarketing surveillance of the safety of cimetidine: 15-year mortality report.

The pattern of mortality after 15 years of observation is reported among almost 10,000 patients who were taking cimetidine when they were first recruited between 1977 and 1980. Many took the drug for a number of years, some switching to other antisecretory agents as the study progressed. The findings are reassuring and provide no evidence of any long-term adverse effects of cimetidine which might be detected by monitoring mortality rates.

Risk factors for adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix in women aged 20-44 years: the UK National Case-Control Study of Cervical Cancer.

We report results on risk factors for invasive squamous cell and adenocarcinomas of the cervix in women aged 20-44 years from the UK National Case-Control Study of Cervical Cancer, including 180 women with adenocarcinoma, 391 women with squamous cell carcinoma and 923 population controls. The risk of both squamous cell and adenocarcinoma was strongly related to the lifetime number of sexual partners, and, independently, to age at first intercourse. The risk of both types of cervical cancer increased with increasing duration of use of oral contraceptives, and this effect was most marked in current and recent users of oral contraceptives.

Mortality in relation to oral contraceptive use and cigarette smoking.

Background: As part of the Oxford Family Planning Association study, we compared mortality in relation to oral contraceptive use and smoking to highlight the differences between them from the perspective of public health.

Methods: The study consisted of 17032 women, aged 25-39 years at entry, recruited between May 1, 1968, and July 31, 1974, who had used oral contraceptives, a diaphragm, or an intrauterine device. We assessed mortality from follow-up data recorded until Dec 31, 2000.

Mortality study of 18 000 patients treated with omeprazole.

Background: The long term safety of potent gastric acid suppressive therapy has yet to be established.

Method: General practice record review at a median interval of 26 months followed by retrieval of details of all deaths within four years using the UK National Health Service Central Registers in 17 936 patients prescribed omeprazole in 1993-1995. Death rates were compared with general population rates.