Reproductive and Lifestyle Factors Associated with Endometriosis in a Large Cross-Sectional Population Sample

Abstract

Objectives: Despite the high prevalence of endometriosis among women of reproductive age, risk factors or markers for developing the condition remain largely unknown. Many of the published studies are based on small selected samples. We therefore investigated the relationships of reproductive and lifestyle factors with endometriosis in a large sample of Swedish female twins. Material and methods: This cross-sectional study included 28,822 women. Among these, endometriosis was reported by 1,228 women and the self-reported diagnosis was confirmed by medical records. Potential risk factors or markers for risk considered were age at menarche, level of education, body mass index (BMI), parity, oral contraceptive (OC) use, infertility, coffee consumption, smoking, and alcohol intake, which were investigated using logistic regression with crude and adjusted analyses. We performed within-pair analysis to examine the sensitivity of the results. Results: Late age at menarche and higher parity showed an inverse association and infertility showed a strong association with endometriosis. We observed positive associations with coffee consumption and smoking and an inverse association with OC use in crude analysis but not in adjusted analysis. There were no significant associations between level of education, BMI, or alcohol intake and endometriosis. Within-pair analysis showed persistent inverse association of parity and association of infertility with endometriosis. Conclusions: Our study suggests that late age at menarche and higher parity are inversely associated and infertility is strongly associated with endometriosis. Future studies are needed to explore the significance of these factors in the diagnosis of endometriosis and understanding of its etiology.

Research Article Endothelial nitric oxide synthase G894T polymorphism increases the risk of infertility in women with endometriosis

“…Most patients with endometriosis in our study were nonsmokers, in contrast to recent studies that have shown a positive association between smoking and endometriosis (Saha et al, 2016). Additionally, most women with endometriosis reported not practicing (or practicing mild) physical activity, which corroborates the findings of studies showing that the practice of physical activity decreases the risk of endometriosis (Vitonis et al, 2010).…”

The Long-Term Footprint of Endometriosis: Population-Based Cohort Analysis Reveals Increased Pain Symptoms and Decreased Pain Tolerance at Age 46 Years

“…Self-reported diagnosis of endometriosis has only recently been described in the literature 26 ; hence the validity of the diagnosis was verified for the present study through the patient records available at the original study site at Oulu University Hospital (Supplemental Figure). Thirty-seven women (13%) did not give permission to enter their patient records.…”

Endometriosis: Aspectos Psicologicos

“…Saha et al (19) en su estudio transversal encontraron una relación inversamente proporcional entre la endometriosis y factores reproductivos como edad avanzada de la menarquia, y tener dos o más hijos. De la misma manera encontraron una relación directamente proporcional de la endometriosis con la infertilidad.…”

“…De la misma manera encontraron una relación directamente proporcional de la endometriosis con la infertilidad. No se han encontrado relación clara entre endometriosis y uso de pastillas anticonceptivas, fumar tabaco, índice de masa corporal y consumo de café (19,20).…”