Alcohol use was assessed in a random sample of middle aged Jewish parents (1043 men and 591 women) who were interviewed at Visit 2 of the Lipid Research Clinics Prevalence Study in Jerusalem in 1976-80. A standard questionnaire probed drinking frequency (times per week) and quantity (number of drinks per week). Only 15.7% of men and 3.8% of women drank more than twice weekly, the mean number of drinks being 3.5 and 1.3 for men and women respectively. Teetotalism was rare and most subjects (61.9% of men and 55.1% of women) drank once or twice weekly, reflecting the high proportion of the Jews who use wine for sacramental purposes. Immigrants from North Africa drank more than native born Israelis or immigrants from Asia or Europe. Drinking was most frequent among men in lower status occupations, though the opposite was true of their wives. Season had a marked impact on the quantity and type of drinking, the mean number of drinks per week reaching a maximum in late winter and a minimum in summer. More beer was consumed in summer and more spirits in winter.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Comparing the health risks and benefits of contraceptive choices.

Simulation models were used to compare the health consequences of birth control methods currently relied on by American women with those of using no method. The incidence of morbidity and mortality related to unintended pregnancies, live births, abortions, upper genital tract infections, tubal infertility, cardiovascular disease and reproductive cancers were estimated for hypothetical cohorts of 100,000 women aged 15-44. Women who never use any method and who never have an abortion would have an average of 18 births during their reproductive lifetime, compared with no more than five among women using any of the available birth control methods. Consequently, use of any method prevents more deaths from pregnancy and childbirth than are associated with method use. The proportion of women who would become infertile--estimated by taking into account the likelihood of developing upper genital tract infections and the probability that any pregnancies that occurred would be ectopic--is reduced substantially if women at low risk of sexually transmitted diseases use any method and if women at high risk use oral contraceptives or barrier and spermicide methods. Oral contraceptive use has a relatively small, independent effect on the risk of cardiovascular diseases, but it greatly augments that risk in combination with smoking and increased age. When ovarian, endometrial and breast cancers are considered together, there will be approximately 110 fewer diagnoses of these three cancers per 100,000 ever-users of the pill aged 15-54 than among 100,000 never-users; furthermore, prior to age 45, 100,000 ever-users will experience 10 fewer deaths from ovarian or endometrial cancers than never-users of the pill.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Oral contraceptives and reproductive cancers: weighing the risks and benefits.

The hypothetical incidence of reproductive cancers resulting from oral contraceptive use was estimated in several models comparing the cumulative lifetime incidence of cancer of the breast, cervix, ovary and endometrium expected in pill users with the incidence expected in nonusers. The potential number of cancer-free days that would be gained or lost by pill users was compared with similar estimates among nonusers. If five years or more of pill use were associated with a 20% increase in the risk of breast cancer being diagnosed before age 50, a 20% increase in cervical cancer risk and a 50% reduction in the risks of ovarian and endometrial cancers, then every 100,000 pill users would experience 44 fewer reproductive cancers during their lifetime than would nonusers, and would gain one more day free of cancer. If higher estimates of the five-year pill-associated risks of breast and cervical cancer are used--a 50% increased risk of each, for example--then pill users would experience more reproductive cancers than nonusers and would have 11 fewer cancer-free days of life.

Adult↗