News | Study: Live Birth Rate Before Endometriosis Diagnosis Is Half That of Women Without the Condition
Research from Helsinki University Hospital in Finland found that fertility declines significantly in the years before an endometriosis diagnosis. Published in Human Reproduction, this was the first large-scale study of live birth rates before diagnosis among women with endometriosis and has important clinical implications.
The study analyzed 18,324 women who received a surgical diagnosis of endometriosis between 1998 and 2012 and compared them with 35,793 similarly aged women without endometriosis. Before diagnosis, the first live birth rate was only half that of unaffected women (0.51%), and this fertility gap widened across birth cohorts from the 1940s to the 1970s. The difference was 28% among women born in 1940-1949 and 87% among those born in 1970-1979.
Lead researcher Professor Oskari Heikinheimo of Helsinki University Hospital said possible reasons include older maternal age, earlier diagnosis of endometriosis, and the accumulating adverse effects of the disease. He advised clinicians treating women with menstrual pain and chronic pelvic pain to consider endometriosis and provide timely fertility counseling and treatment.
Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory condition affecting 10% of women of reproductive age. Endometrial-like tissue grows outside the uterus, including on the ovaries and fallopian tubes. Common symptoms include painful periods, pelvic pain, pain during intercourse, and difficulty conceiving. Diagnosis takes an average of 7 years, limiting fertility for some patients before the condition is identified. Before diagnosis, women with endometriosis had an average of 1.93 children, compared with 2.16 among women without the condition, suggesting that endometriosis may prevent some women from having their desired number of children.
The large sample and high-quality Finnish national health records demonstrate the long-term effect of endometriosis on fertility before diagnosis. Limitations include the inclusion of only surgically diagnosed patients and the lack of information on reproductive intentions and assisted reproduction. The team will next analyze fertility after diagnosis and treatment to determine whether treatment restores fertility to levels seen in women without endometriosis.
News | Study: Live Birth Rate Before Endometriosis Diagnosis Is Half That of Women Without the Condition
News | Study: Live Birth Rate Before Endometriosis Diagnosis Is Half That of Women Without the Condition
Research from Helsinki University Hospital in Finland found that fertility declines significantly in the years before an endometriosis diagnosis. Published in Human Reproduction, this was the first large-scale study of live birth rates before diagnosis among women with endometriosis and has important clinical implications.
The study analyzed 18,324 women who received a surgical diagnosis of endometriosis between 1998 and 2012 and compared them with 35,793 similarly aged women without endometriosis. Before diagnosis, the first live birth rate was only half that of unaffected women (0.51%), and this fertility gap widened across birth cohorts from the 1940s to the 1970s. The difference was 28% among women born in 1940-1949 and 87% among those born in 1970-1979.
Lead researcher Professor Oskari Heikinheimo of Helsinki University Hospital said possible reasons include older maternal age, earlier diagnosis of endometriosis, and the accumulating adverse effects of the disease. He advised clinicians treating women with menstrual pain and chronic pelvic pain to consider endometriosis and provide timely fertility counseling and treatment.
Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory condition affecting 10% of women of reproductive age. Endometrial-like tissue grows outside the uterus, including on the ovaries and fallopian tubes. Common symptoms include painful periods, pelvic pain, pain during intercourse, and difficulty conceiving. Diagnosis takes an average of 7 years, limiting fertility for some patients before the condition is identified. Before diagnosis, women with endometriosis had an average of 1.93 children, compared with 2.16 among women without the condition, suggesting that endometriosis may prevent some women from having their desired number of children.
The large sample and high-quality Finnish national health records demonstrate the long-term effect of endometriosis on fertility before diagnosis. Limitations include the inclusion of only surgically diagnosed patients and the lack of information on reproductive intentions and assisted reproduction. The team will next analyze fertility after diagnosis and treatment to determine whether treatment restores fertility to levels seen in women without endometriosis.
Source:
Collected online