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SAN DIEGO (Reuters Health) - Women with endometriosis,
in which tissue normally found inside the uterus begins to grow
elsewhere in the body, are more likely than women without the condition
to suffer from autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis
or lupus, according to survey findings presented here Monday.
The researchers found that women with endometriosis
were also more likely to have asthma and allergies, to have abnormally
low thyroid function and to have either chronic fatigue syndrome
or fibromyalgia, National Institutes of Health research fellow Ninet
Sinaii reported at the VIII World Congress on Endometriosis, sponsored
by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
"While other studies have shown there may be some
autoimmune dysregulation in women with endometriosis, this is probably
the first population-based, epidemiological study" to look at the
issue, Sinaii said.
Sinaii and colleagues from the NIH and George Washington
University in Washington, DC, polled 3,680 women with surgically
diagnosed endometriosis, asking them if they had ever been diagnosed
with an autoimmune disorder, an endocrine disorder, allergies, asthma,
chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia. The women ranged in age
from 14 to 89, and their average age was about 36.
"The thing that gives this study statistical power
is the sample size," Sinaii noted. "Our hypothesis was, if so many
studies have shown autoimmune dysregulation (in women with endometriosis),
it makes sense that we would also see other autoimmune diseases."
The team speculated that the fibromyalgia and chronic
fatigue they found among the survey respondents might be related
to the pain caused by endometriosis. More than 98% of the women
surveyed reported pelvic pain, and 41% reported infertility.
The results: 12% of the women surveyed also had an
autoimmune disorder such as lupus or multiple sclerosis, while less
than 2% of women in the general population have either disease.
And 42% of the women with endometriosis had underactive thyroid
glands, versus less than 5% of women in the general population.
Asthma affected 12% of the women with endometriosis, but strikes
only 5% of women overall. Sixty-one percent of the endometriosis
patients suffered from allergies, versus 18% of women overall.
Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, though
not considered autoimmune diseases, were also more common among
women with endometriosis; 31% had either condition, while 4% of
women overall have fibromyalgia and less than 1% have chronic fatigue
syndrome.
More than 5 million women in the US and Canada have
endometriosis, according to the Endometriosis Association, a Milwaukee-based
nonprofit research and education organization that supported the
research. When the tissue begins growing outside its normal site,
for example along the fallopian tubes, there can be chronic pelvic
pain, disabling menstrual periods, pain during sex, and infertility.
Treatments include surgery, hormones and pain medicines.
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