Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Division of Public Health (Ms. Byun and Drs. Stanford, Allen-Brady, and Schliep); Department of Internal Medicine, Genetic Epidemiology (Dr. Allen-Brady).
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentROR
Division of Public Health Department of Family and Preventive Medicine University of Utah Salt Lake City UtahROR
Prior research has collectively shown that endometriosis is inversely related to women's adiposity. The aim of this study was to assess whether this inverse relationship holds true by disease severity and typology.
Design
Cross-sectional study among women with no prior diagnosis of endometriosis.
Setting
Fourteen clinical centers in Salt Lake City, UT, and San Francisco, CA.
Patients
A total of 495 women (of which 473 were analyzed), aged 18-44 years, were enrolled in the operative cohort of the Endometriosis, Natural History, Diagnosis, and Outcomes (ENDO) Study.
Interventions
Gynecologic laparoscopy/laparotomy regardless of clinical indication. MEASUREMENTS AND
Main Results
Participants underwent anthropometric assessments, body composition measurements, and evaluations of body fat distribution ratios before surgery. Surgeons completed a standardized operative report immediately after surgery to capture revised American Society for Reproductive Medicine staging (I-IV) and typology of disease (superficial endometriosis [SE], ovarian endometrioma [OE], and deep infiltrating endometriosis [DIE]). Linear mixed models, taking into account within-clinical-center correlation, were used to generate least square means (95% confidence intervals) to assess differences in adiposity measures by endometriosis stage (no endometriosis, I-IV) and typology (no endometriosis, SE, DIE, OE, OE + DIE) adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, and parity. Although most confidence intervals were wide and overlapping, 3 general impressions emerged: (1) women with incident endometriosis had the lowest anthropometric/body composition indicators compared with those without incident endometriosis, (2) women with stage I or IV endometriosis had lower indicators compared with women with stage II or III, and (3) women with OE and/or DIE tended to have the lowest indicators, whereas women with SE had the highest indicators.
Conclusion
Our research highlights that the relationship between women's adiposity and endometriosis severity and typology may be more complicated than prior research indicates.
adiposity endometriosis, BMI endometriosis severity, endometriosis typology, body mass index endometriosis, deep infiltrating endometriosis, ovarian endometrioma BMI, endometriosis staging, lean body mass endometriosis, peritoneal endometriosis, endometriosis phenotype
PMID 31927045 31927045 DOI 10.1016/j.jmig.2020.01.002 10.1016/j.jmig.2020.01.002
Cite this article
Byun, J., Peterson, C. M., Backonja, U., Taylor, R. N., Stanford, J. B., Allen-Brady, K. L., Smith, K. R., Louis, G. M. B., & Schliep, K. C. (2020). Adiposity and Endometriosis Severity and Typology. Journal of minimally invasive gynecology, 27(7), 1516-1523. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmig.2020.01.002
Byun J, Peterson CM, Backonja U, Taylor RN, Stanford JB, Allen-Brady KL, et al. Adiposity and Endometriosis Severity and Typology. J Minim Invasive Gynecol. 2020;27(7):1516-1523. doi:10.1016/j.jmig.2020.01.002
Byun, J., et al. "Adiposity and Endometriosis Severity and Typology." Journal of minimally invasive gynecology, vol. 27, no. 7, 2020, pp. 1516-1523.
Pelvic endometriosis is a complex syndrome characterized by an estrogen-dependent chronic inflammatory process that affects primarily pelvic tissues, including the ovaries. It is caused when shed endometrial tissue travels retrograde into the lower abdominal cavity. Endometriosis is the most common cause of chronic pelvic pain in women and is associated with infertility. The underlying pathologic mechanisms in the intracavitary endometrium and extrauterine endometriotic tissue involve defectively programmed endometrial mesenchymal progenitor/stem cells. Although endometriotic stromal cells, which compose the bulk of endometriotic lesions, do not carry somatic mutations, they demonstrate specific epigenetic abnormalities that alter expression of key transcription factors. For example, GATA-binding factor-6 overexpression transforms an endometrial stromal cell to an endometriotic phenotype, and steroidogenic factor-1 overexpression causes excessive production of estrogen, which drives inflammation via pathologically high levels of estrogen receptor-β. Progesterone receptor deficiency causes progesterone resistance. Populations of endometrial and endometriotic epithelial cells also harbor multiple cancer driver mutations, such as KRAS, which may be associated with the establishment of pelvic endometriosis or ovarian cancer. It is not known how interactions between epigenomically defective stromal cells and the mutated genes in epithelial cells contribute to the pathogenesis of endometriosis. Endometriosis-associated pelvic pain is managed by suppression of ovulatory menses and estrogen production, cyclooxygenase inhibitors, and surgical removal of pelvic lesions, and in vitro fertilization is frequently used to overcome infertility. Although novel targeted treatments are becoming available, as endometriosis pathophysiology is better understood, preventive approaches such as long-term ovulation suppression may play a critical role in the future.
We sought to identify risk factors for endometriosis and their consistency across study populations Natural History, Diagnosis, and Outcomes (ENDO) Study. In this prospective matched, exposure cohort design, 495 women aged 18-44 years undergoing pelvic surgery (exposed to surgery, operative cohort) were compared to an ageand residence-matched population cohort of 131 women (unexposed to surgery, population cohort). Endometriosis was diagnosed visually at laparoscopy/laparotomy or by pelvic magnetic resonance imaging in the operative and population cohorts, respectively. Logistic regression estimated the adjusted odds ratios (AORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for each cohort. The incidence of visualized endometriosis was 40% in the operative cohort (11.8% stage 3-4 by revised criteria from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine), and 11% stage 3-4 in the population cohort by magnetic resonance imaging. An infertility history increased the odds of an endometriosis diagnosis in both the operative (AOR, 2.43; 95% CI, 1.57-3.76) and population (AOR, 7.91; 95% CI, 1.69-37.2) cohorts. In the operative cohort only, dysmenorrhea (AOR, 2.46; 95% CI, 1.28-4.72) and pelvic pain (AOR, 3.67; 95% CI, 2.44-5.50) increased the odds of diagnosis, while gravidity (AOR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.32-0.75), parity (AOR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.28-0.64), and body mass index (AOR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.93-0.98) decreased the odds of diagnosis. In all sensitivity analyses for different diagnostic subgroups, infertility history remained a strong risk factor. An infertility history was a consistent risk factor for endometriosis in both the operative and population cohorts of the ENDO Study. Additionally, identified risk factors for endometriosis vary based upon cohort selection and diagnostic accuracy. Finally, endometriosis in the population may be more common than recognized.
Endometriosis is a common finding among women with infertility, and women who are diagnosed with endometriosis are almost twice as likely to experience infertility. Mechanisms by which endometriosis causes infertility remain poorly understood. In this review, we evaluate the current literature on the impact of endometriosis on oocyte and embryo quality. The presence of endometriosis evidently reduces ovarian reserve, oocyte quality, and embryo quality; however, this does not appear to translate to a clear clinical impact. Analysis of data from large assisted reproduction technology registries has shown that women with endometriosis have a lower oocyte yield but no reduction in reproductive outcomes. There is a need for future studies in the form of well-designed randomized controlled trials to further evaluate the role of surgical and medical treatment options in women with endometriosis undergoing assisted conception.