Peroral lynestrenol and arterial disease in mentally retarded women: a case-control study based on autopsy findings

Autopsy findings from 170 non-smoking and mentally retarded women aged 12-51 years were analysed for any epidemiological association between the use of peroral lynestrenol for inducing therapeutic amenorrhea (TA) and arterial disease. Eighty-six women had received lynestrenol continuously for an average of 81 months (range 2-220 months) and the other 84 had not. After exclusion of 6 cases with known risk factors (diabetes, hypertension) predisposing to arterial disease, pathological arterial changes were found in 16 patients, 10 of them belonging to the TA group and 5 to the non-lynestrenol group. The incidence of arterial disease at autopsy at the age of 35 or more was 8/19 in TA patients and 1/15 in non-lynestrenol patients (p = 0.078). The benefits of prolonged TA induced by lynestrenol in this group of patients must be weighed very carefully against the possible risks involved.