Early menstrual characteristics associated with subsequent diagnosis of endometriosis
Background material regarding the study in the article (but not this topic) was presented at the 10th World Congress on Endometriosis, Melbourne, Australia, March 11-14, 2008.
Received 7 April 2009; received in revised form 5 July 2009; accepted 16 October 2009. published online 21 December 2009.
Objective
The aim of this study was to investigate the association between early menstrual characteristics, before symptom onset, and later diagnosis of endometriosis.
Study Design
This was a case-control study of 268 Australian women with surgically confirmed moderate-to-severe endometriosis (cases) and 244 women without endometriosis (controls). Early menstrual cycle characteristics, before age at symptom onset, were analyzed.
Results
Menarche after age 14 years was strongly and inversely associated with endometriosis (odds ratio, 0.3; 95% confidence interval, 0.1–0.6). A history of dysmenorrhea was associated with subsequent endometriosis (odds ratio, 2.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.1–6.2). Despite a suggestive trend, shorter menstrual cycle length was not associated with endometriosis. Duration of natural menstruation and heaviness of flow were not associated with subsequent risk of endometriosis; neither was the reported type of sanitary protection used nor history of sexual intercourse during menstruation.
Conclusion
There is a decreased risk of endometriosis with late age at menarche and an increased risk in women who report an early history of dysmenorrhea.
Reprints: Susan A. Treloar, PhD, Center for Military and Veterans' Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072 Australia
Dr Treloar was supported by the Cooperative Research Center for Discovery of Genes for Common Human Diseases and by NHMRC Grant 339430. Drs Bell and Nagle were funded by fellowships from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.
Cite this article as: Treloar SA, Bell TA, Nagle CM, et al. Early menstrual characteristics associated with subsequent diagnosis of endometriosis. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2010;202:534.e1-6.
ABSTRACT