This study focuses on the incidence and risk profile among young women with a diagnosis of pulmonary embolism over the 10-year period 1988-97. A total of 66 non-pregnant women aged 15-44, treated for the first event of pulmonary embolism, were identified by discharge diagnosis at two main Norwegian hospitals (The Regional Hospital of Trondheim and Ullevål Hospital, Oslo). The estimated overall incidence of pulmonary embolism was 6.8 per 100,000 women-years. The crude incidence decreased from 7.5 per 100,000 women-years in 1988-90 to 4.1 per 100,000 women-years in 1996-97 (p