NEUROLOGIC DISEASE AMONG WOMEN WITH BREAST IMPLANTS

Objective: To investigate the risk of neurologic disease among women w ith silicone breast implants. Background: Since 1992, several case ser ies reported an association between silicone breast implants and neuro logic diseases. Methods: Between 1977 and 1992, 1,135 women received c osmetic silicone breast implants, and 7,071 women had breast reduction surgery, as identified by the Danish National Register of Patients (N RP). NRP files provided information on numbers and types of subsequent neurologic disorders at hospital discharge, which were compared with expected numbers, calculated on the basis of national hospital dischar ge rates. Results: In the two study cohorts, hospital discharge rates for neurologic diseases were raised by some 60% to 70% compared with D anish women in general. Among women with silicone breast implants, 13 subsequently developed a neurologic disorder compared with 7.7 expecte d; whereas in the comparison group, 63 observed versus 39.1 expected d isorders were recorded. These results indicate that relative to the co mparison cohort, women with implants had no excessive levels of defini te neurologic disease. Furthermore, medical record reviews revealed th at the majority of women with implants discharged with a neurologic di agnosis had either symptoms before implant surgery or neurologic sympt oms secondary to degenerative diseases. Conclusions: Our findings do n ot support the hypothesis of silicone-induced neurologic disease. The reasons for the elevated rates of neurologic disease in both the expos ed and comparison cohorts remain unclear, but may reflect selection pr ocesses associated with these women seeking medical care more often th an the general population.