ASRM2012: Endometriosis and risk of coronary heart disease
San Diego, 24 October 2012
In a large prospective cohort study of female nurses (The Nurses Health Study II) laparoscopically confirmed endometriosis was associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease.
Dr Fan Mu at the 68th Annual Meeting of the ASRM
The risk was of the same magnitude as shown in a meta analysis of metabolic syndrome. Women were shown to have a 50% increase of having a heart attack, and an 80% increase of angina.
An explanation for this increased risk may be that there is overlap in the hormonal and inflammatory development of cardiovascular disease and endometriosis, explained associate professor Stacey Missmer, who oversaw the study.
According to Fan Mu, who presented the paper, if this relationship is true these findings open up a new area of investigation into a potential common pathology between endometriosis and cardiovascular disease.
If women with endometriosis are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease it is important for them and their clinicians to be reinforcing important lifestyle changes and screening. However the findings of this study should be replicated in additional large populations before alarming conclusions are drawn.
said Dr Mu.
