Prolactin and cortisol levels in women with endometriosis

Alisson Padilha de Lima, A P Lima, M D Moura, A A M Rosa e Silva
Brazilian journal of medical and biological research = Revista brasileira de pesquisas medicas e biologicas · 2006 · vol. 39(8) , pp. 1121–1127 · doi:10.1590/s0100-879x2006000800015 · PMID:16906287 · W2091197986
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-09 ⓘ

This study found significantly higher serum prolactin and cortisol levels in infertile women with advanced endometriosis compared to controls, suggesting a link between these stress parameters and the disease.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-09 ⓘ

This study investigated whether endometriosis is associated with stress-related biomarkers by measuring cortisol and prolactin in serum, peritoneal fluid, and follicular fluid in infertile women with endometriosis and fertile controls without the disease, using laparoscopy and IVF sampling, with disease staged by the revised American Fertility Society classification. In serum, women with stage III–IV endometriosis had significantly higher prolactin and cortisol levels than controls, whereas cortisol and prolactin in follicular fluid and peritoneal fluid did not differ significantly between groups. The authors note that their findings are limited to the sampled compartments and timing around laparoscopy/IVF, and they do not directly assess stress exposure or immune function. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it evaluates serum prolactin and cortisol as stress parameters associated with disease stage and subfertility in women with endometriosis.

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Abstract

Endometriosis is a progressive estrogen-dependent disease affecting women during their reproductive years. The objective of the present study was to investigate whether endometriosis is associated with stress parameters. We determined cortisol and prolactin levels in serum, peritoneal and follicular fluid from infertile women with endometriosis and fertile women without the disease. The extent of the disease was staged according to the revised American Fertility Society classification (1997). Serum and peritoneal fluid were collected from 49 women aged 19 to 39 years undergoing laparoscopy. Eighteen women had stage I-II endometriosis and 10 had stage III-IV. Controls were 21 women undergoing laparoscopy for tubal sterilization. Follicular fluid was obtained from 39 women aged 25-39 years undergoing in vitro fertilization (21 infertile women with endometriosis and 18 infertile women without endometriosis). Serum prolactin levels were significantly higher in infertile women with stage III-IV endometriosis (28.9 +/- 2.1 ng/mL) than in healthy controls (13.2 +/- 2.1 ng/mL). Serum cortisol levels were significantly higher in infertile women with stage III-IV endometriosis (20.1 +/- 1.3 ng/mL) than in controls (10.5 +/- 1.4 ng/mL). Cortisol and prolactin levels in follicular fluid and peritoneal fluid did not differ significantly between groups. The high levels of cortisol and prolactin in the serum from women with endometriosis might contribute to the subfertility frequently associated with the disease. Moreover, since higher levels of cortisol and prolactin are often associated with stress, it is probable that stress might contribute to the development of endometriosis and its progression to advanced stages of the disease.

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Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Ascitic Fluid Endometriosis Follicular Fluid Hydrocortisone Prolactin Stress, Physiological Adult Ascitic Fluid Biomarkers Biomarkers Case-Control Studies Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Follicular Fluid Humans Hydrocortisone Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Luminescent Measurements

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