Hypertension and Hypercholesterolemia Are Linked to Endometriosis Risk

Endometriosis is associated with an increased risk of developing hypercholesterolemia and hypertension, according to a recent study. Conversely, the researchers found that hypercholesterolemia and hypertension are also associated with an increased risk of endometriosis.

The prospective cohort study included 116,430 registered female nurses from 25 to 42 years of age in 1989 and were followed for 20 years.

At baseline, 4244 women had laparoscopically confirmed endometriosis and 91,554 women did not have endometriosis.

The relative risk (RR) for women with endometriosis for the development of hypercholesterolemia was 1.25  and the RR for the development of hypertension was 1.14 compared to women without endometriosis after researchers adjusted for demographic, anthropometric, family history, reproductive, dietary, and lifestyle risk factors.

In addition, the RR of developing endometriosis was 1.22 for women with hypercholesterolemia compared to women without hypercholesterolemia, and the RR for developing endometriosis was 1.29 for women with hypertension compared to women without hypertension.

The associations between endometriosis, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertension were strongest among women who were 40 years of age or younger, and was found to weaken as age increased.

“We observed that ≈45% of the associations between endometriosis and hypercholesterolemia and hypertension could be accounted for by treatment factors after endometriosis diagnosis, including greater frequency of hysterectomy/oophorectomy and earlier age for this surgery,” the researchers wrote.

—Melissa Weiss

Reference:

Mu F, Rich-Edwards J, Rimm EB, Spiegelman D, Forman JP, Missmer SA. Association between endometriosis and hypercholesterolemia or hypertension [published online May 30, 2017]. Hypertension. https://doi.org/10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.117.09056.