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Relation of Cigarette Smoking to Myocardial Infarction in Young Women

List of authors.
  • Dennis Slone, M.D.,
  • Samuel Shapiro, M.B., F.R.C.P. (E),
  • Lynn Rosenberg, M.S.,
  • David W. Kaufman, B.A.,
  • Stuart C. Hartz, Sc.D.,
  • Allen C. Rossi, D.D.S.,
  • Paul D. Stolley, M.D.,
  • and Olli S. Miettinen, M.D.

Abstract

To examine the relation between myocardial infarction and cigarette smoking in young women, we investigated the smoking habits of women under the age of 50 who had survived a recent myocardial infarction. They had not been using oral contraceptives, and other identifiable risk factors were excluded. Among 55 such women and 220 controls matched for age and area of residence, the proportions of cigarette smokers were 89 per cent and 55 per cent respectively (P<0.001). A dose-response relation was evident; among women smoking 35 or more cigarettes per day the rate of myocardial infarction was estimated to be some 20-fold higher than among those who had never smoked. This study demonstrates that cigarette smoking is a risk factor for myocardial infarction in young women who are otherwise apparently healthy. (N Engl J Med 298:1273–1276, 1978)

Funding and Disclosures

Supported by a contract (N01-HD-6–2849) with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, a contract (223–76–3016) with the Food and Drug Administration and contracts (N01-CP-71029, N01-CB-74099) with the National Cancer Institute and a grant from Hoffmann-LaRoche, Inc.

This study represents the teamwork of the nurses, staff and physicians in 152 hospitals located in the northeastern part of the United States, without whose help and support it could not have been done. Special credit is due to Carol Enseki, the program co-ordinator, and the nurses responsible for arranging and conducting the interviews, Linda Paradis, Geraldine Christie, Susan Ober, Dorothy Gray, Carol Palmer, Marygrace Barber and Margaret Imbro. We are indebted to Patricia Dattwyler, Marguerite Angeloni and Leonard Gaetano for assistance and to Dr. D. W. Hosmer for advice in the analysis of this study.

Author Affiliations

From the Drug Epidemiology Unit, Boston University Medical Center, the Department of Research Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and the Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health (address reprint requests to Dr. Slone at the Drug Epidemiology Unit, 10 Moulton St., Cambridge, MA 02138).

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