OBJECTIVE:This study was undertaken to identify and quantify risk factors for endometrial cancer among young women. STUDY DESIGN: This case-control study included all Danish women <50 years old who had endometrial cancer diagnosed during the period 1987 to 1994. A total of 237 case patients and 538 population control subjects matched with the case patients for age and residence were included in the analysis. RESULTS: Women with a family history of endometrial cancer had an odds ratio for endometrial cancer of 2.1 (95% confidence interval, 1.1-3.8)). Completion of 1 term pregnancy implied an odds ratio of 0.6 (95% confidence interval, 0.3-1.1). The risk of endometrial cancer decreased significantly with increasing age at first birth and with the number of induced abortions. Use of oral contraceptives for 1 to 5 years decreased the risk of endometrial cancer (odds ratio, 0.2; 95% confidence interval, 0.1-0.3). The odds ratio for endometrial cancer among women who received hormone replacement therapy for 1 to 5 years was 3.1 (95% confidence interval, 1.4-7.0). Body mass index was not demonstrated to be an independent risk factor in this study. The protective impacts of the different exposures (risk factors) can be expressed as etiologic fractions, which indicate how much each exposure reduces the occurrence of endometrial cancer compared with a situation without the existence of that particular exposure. These fractions were as follows: oral contraceptive use for ≥1 year, -45%; 2 term pregnancies, -88%; age ≥30 y when giving birth for the first time, -38%; and a history of incomplete pregnancy, -16%. Key words: Case-control study, endometrial cancer, etiologic fraction, premenopausal, risk factor Endometrial cancer is a rare disease among premenopausal women. Seven percent of endometrial cancer occurs in women <50 years old. In the same age group about 300 curettage procedures and an equal number of endometrial biopsies are performed for every single diagnosis of endometrial cancer. When the physical complications attendant with these invasive procedures and the socioeconomic consequences of curettage as a screening procedure are considered, the question arises as to whether it is appropriate to carry out this number of intrauterine procedures in fertile women to find so few cases of endometrial malignancy.If young women at an increased risk for development of endometrial cancer could be identified, a selection of women among whom the need to undergo curettage was greater might be realized. Consequently, the number of curettage procedures performed in this age group could be reduced.Several studies have identified risk factors of endometrial cancer among older women, such as overweight status, estrogen replacement therapy, nulliparity, infertility, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. 1-8 However, these risk factors are not necessarily relevant for endometrial cancer among young women. Only a few studies have focused on risk factors for endometrial cancer among premenopausal women (Table I). To identify and quantif...

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Pyloric muscle thickness (PMT) and pyloric diameter (PD) were determined by sonography in 92 healthy infants aged 8 to 70 days. PMT and PD measured median 2.0 mm and 10.0 mm. There was a significant correlation between the pyloric dimensions and the infant's age, p<0.02 and p

Morbidity after transurethral resection of the prostate gland was retrospectively investigated by comparing 73 alcoholics with 73 controls (daily alcohol consumption greater than or equal to 60 g vs. less than 25 g). The compared groups derived from 1,172 patients and were matched for diagnosis, age, weight, smoking habits, treatment for cardiovascular, pulmonary or endocrine diseases, anaesthesia and weight of resected tissue. The postoperative morbidity was significantly higher in the alcohol group than in the controls (62% vs. 20%). Follow-up at 1, 3 and 12 months revealed significantly more complications among the alcoholics and also more frequent requirement of supplementary procedures than in the controls.

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