Does Endometriosis Increase Susceptibility to COVID–19 Infections? A case-control study in Women of Reproductive Age

Bahram Moazzami, Shahla Chaichian, Saeed Samie, Masoumeh Majidi Zolbin, Fatemeh Jesmi, Meisam Akhlaghdoust, Mahin Ahmadi Pishkuhi, Zahra Sadat Mirshafiei, Fereshteh Khalilzadeh, Dorsa Safari
In: Research Square · 2020 · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-53422/v1 · W4248455782
preprint OA: green CC0
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This case-control study found that endometriosis does not increase susceptibility to COVID-19 infection but does alter its manifestation, with rare symptoms being more common in the endometriosis group.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This case-control study compared 507 women with histologically confirmed endometriosis to 520 age-matched women without endometriosis, using researcher-administered screening checklists and RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 outcomes plus symptoms, exposure, hospitalization, and isolation history collected between May 21 and July 3, 2020. COVID-19 infection occurred in 3.2% of the endometriosis group versus 3.0% of controls (P = .942), and the average disease period was 14 days in both groups (P = .694). While the control group reported more asymptomatic infections (95.7% vs 94.5%, P < .001) and fever (1.6% vs 0%, P = .004), less common symptoms were reported more frequently in the endometriosis group (P < .001). The authors conclude endometriosis does not increase susceptibility to COVID-19 but may alter symptom manifestation, while relying on the study’s preprint status and the limitations inherent to case-control design. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it tests whether endometriosis increases susceptibility to COVID–19 infection and finds no difference in infection rates but differences in symptom patterns.

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Abstract

Abstract Background In today’s world, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID–19) is the most critical health problem and research is continued on studying the associated factors. But it is not clear whether endometriosis increases the risk of COVID–19. Methods Women who referred to the gynecology clinic were evaluated and 507 women with endometriosis (case group) were compared with 520 women without endometriosis (control group). COVID–19 infection, symptoms, exposure, hospitalization, isolation, H1N1 infection and vaccination, and past medical history of the participants were recorded and compared between the groups using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows version 21. Results Comparison between the groups represent COVID–19 infection in 3.2% of the case group and 3% of the control group (P = .942). The control group had a higher frequency of asymptomatic infection (95.7% vs. 94.5%; P < .001) and fever (1.6% vs. 0%; P = .004), while the frequency of rare symptoms was more common in the case group (P < .001). The average disease period was 14 days in both groups (P = .694). COVID–19 infection was correlated with close contact (r = .331; P < .001 in the case group and r = .244; P .05). Conclusion Endometriosis does not increase the susceptibility to COVID–19 infections, but alters the manifestation of the disease. The prevalence of the disease may depend on the interaction between the virus and the individual’s immune system but further studies are required in this regard.

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endometriosis

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