The Epidemiology of Idiopathic Dilated Cardiomyopathy in Women: The Washington DC Dilated Cardiomyopathy Study

We examined possible risk factors for idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy in women by comparing newly diagnosed cases (N = 61) ascertained from five Washington DC area hospitals with neighborhood controls (N = 122) identified using a random digit dialing technique. We matched the cases and controls on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) Mass.), 1994-07, Vol.5 (4), p.449-455
Main Authors: Coughlin, Steven S., Tefft, Mariella C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Age Factors
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Asthma
Cardiomyopathies
Cardiomyopathy, Dilated - complications
Cardiomyopathy, Dilated - epidemiology
Case-Control Studies
Diabetes mellitus
Diabetic cardiomyopathies
Dilated cardiomyopathy
District of Columbia - epidemiology
Epidemiology
Estrogens
Female
Humans
Hypertension
Hypertension - complications
Incidence
Middle Aged
Odds Ratio
Oral contraceptives
Predisposing factors
Risk Factors
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Summary:We examined possible risk factors for idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy in women by comparing newly diagnosed cases (N = 61) ascertained from five Washington DC area hospitals with neighborhood controls (N = 122) identified using a random digit dialing technique. We matched the cases and controls on 5-year age intervals and telephone exchange and analyzed the data using conditional logistic regression methods. We found that idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy was associated with history of asthma, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and black race. The association with hypertension was particularly strong among women who were less than 50 years of age [crude relative odds (RO) = 21.0, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 4.6-96.9]. We found a strong inverse association with history of oral contraceptive use (crude RO = 0.3, 95% CI = 0.1-0.7; adjusted RO = 0.1, 95% CI = 0.1-0.5, controlling for other identified risk factors). Only 13.2% (7 of 53) of the cases had a reported history of contraceptive use, as compared with 35.5% (43 of 121) of the controls. The possible protective effect from oral contraceptive use was not explained by race, educational attainment, asthma, diabetes mellitus, or hypertension, and was more pronounced among women who were less than 50 years of age.
ISSN:1044-3983
1531-5487
DOI:10.1097/00001648-199407000-00012