Takeaway
- Endometriosis is associated with an increased risk of composite cardiovascular disease (CVD), ischaemic heart disease (IHD), cerebrovascular disease, arrhythmia and hypertension.
- No association was found between endometriosis and risk of heart failure (HF).
Why this matters
- Findings suggest that young women with endometriosis are a potential target group for CVD risk assessment and prevention.
Study design
- This retrospective cohort study included 56,090 women with endometriosis (age, 16-50 years) and 223,669 matched control participants without endometriosis from The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database, UK.
- Women aged 16-50 years were followed from 1995 to 2018.
- Primary outcome was composite CVD including IHD, HF and cerebrovascular disease.
- Secondary outcomes were arrhythmia, hypertension and mortality.
- Funding: None.
Key results
- The annual incidence of endometriosis was 12.3 per 10,000 person-years in 1998 and 11.5 per 10,000 person-years in 2017.
- The annual prevalence of endometriosis gradually increased from 119.7 per 10,000 population in 1998 to 201.3 per 10,000 population in 2017.
- Women with endometriosis vs those without were at an increased of (adjusted HR [aHR]; 95% CI):
- composite CVD (1.24; 1.14-1.37);
- IHD (1.40; 1.22-1.61);
- cerebrovascular disease (1.19; 1.04-1.36);
- arrhythmia (1.26; 1.11-1.43); and
- hypertension (1.12; 1.07-1.17).
- No significant association was seen between endometriosis and risk of HF (aHR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.54-1.07).
- Women with endometriosis vs those without were at a lower risk of all-cause mortality (aHR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.59-0.74).
Limitations
- Retrospective design.
- Study could not distinguish surgically confirmed cases from cases diagnosed through other means.
This clinical summary originally appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.
