Endometriosis Study Links Ailments

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Endometriosis Study Links Ailments

Thu Sep 26, 7:16 PM ET

By EMMA ROSS, AP Medical Writer

Women with endometriosis ‹ a leading cause of infertility in which tissue

from the womb lining grows elsewhere in the body ‹ are much more likely to

suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, chronic fatigue syndrome,

fibromyalgia and allergies, new research has found.

The study, published this week in the journal Human Reproduction, is the

first to document something that has been noticed by many women with the

painful disorder.

The researchers urged doctors to look for the other diseases in women when

diagnosing endometriosis, which afflicts between 8 percent and 10 percent of

women of childbearing age.

The cause of endometriosis, as well as of the other diseases, remains

unknown.

The new research suggests an immune system abnormality may underlie all

these conditions, said Warren Nothnick, a University of Kansas professor of

obstetrics and gynecology who was not connected with the study.

" What is the underlying factor, the commonality, between all of these

diseases? If we can find out what the one factor is, or group of factors, we

can target that and hopefully come up with a way to treat not only the

endometriosis, but also some of the other diseases, " Nothnick said.

His own work, as well as that of other scientists, suggests that the

malfunctioning of certain immune system chemicals called cytokines may be a

common link.

Assuming endometriosis occurs before the other diseases, it may also be

possible one day to spare women with endometriosis from developing some of

the additional diseases, Nothnick said.

The study, conducted by scientists at the U.S. National Institute of Child

Health and Human Development, Washington University and the

Endometriosis Association, involved 3,680 women with endometriosis.

The scientists found that 20 percent of the women had more than one other

disease. A third of the women who had other diseases had fibromyalgia or

chronic fatigue syndrome, and some of those women also had other autoimmune

or hormone diseases.

Chronic fatigue syndrome was more than 100 times more common than among the

general U.S. female population.

Hypothyroidism, which involves an underactive thyroid gland and causes

mental and physical slowing, was seven times more common.

Fibromyalgia, which is characterized by widespread body pain and tiredness,

was twice as common among the women with endometriosis.

Autoimmune inflammatory diseases ‹ systemic lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and

multiple sclerosis ‹ also occurred more frequently than normal.

Rates of allergic conditions were higher, too. While allergies occur in 18

percent of U.S. women, they occurred in 61 percent of the women with

endometriosis. The rate climbed even higher if the women had additional

diseases.

The study also confirmed previous findings that there is typically a 10-year

gap between the time women first get the pelvic pain and the diagnosis of

endometriosis.

The most common symptom of endometriosis is pain, especially excessive

cramps during menstrual periods or pain during or after sex. Infertility

occurs in about 30 to 40 percent of women with endometriosis.

Endometrial tissue outside the uterus responds to the menstrual cycle

similarly to the way it responds in the uterus. At the end of every cycle,

when hormones cause the uterus to shed its endometrial lining, endometrial

tissue growing outside the uterus also breaks apart and bleeds.

However, unlike menstrual fluid from the womb, which is flushed from the

body during menstrual periods, blood from the misplaced tissue has no place

to go. Tissues surrounding the area of endometriosis may become inflamed or

swollen.

It is one of the most complex and least understood gynecological diseases

and, despite many theories, the cause remains unknown.

One theory is that during menstruation some of the menstrual tissue backs up

through the fallopian tubes into the abdomen, where it implants and grows.