Overall Adiposity, Adipose Tissue Distribution, and Endometriosis

Uba Backonja, Germaine M Buck Louis, Diane Lauver, Diane R Lauver
Nursing research · 2016 · vol. 65(2) , pp. 151–166 · doi:10.1097/nnr.0000000000000146 · PMID:26938364 · W2319146733
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This literature review found that endometriosis is associated with low overall adiposity and a preponderance of peripherally distributed adipose tissue below the waist.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This paper is a systematic review that synthesized observational studies comparing women with and without endometriosis on measures of overall adiposity and adipose tissue distribution, focusing on whether endometriosis relates to being lean and where fat is distributed. The authors searched PubMed and Web of Science for studies published before January 22, 2014 and included 19 eligible publications (plus 2 from reference lists), noting that current eligible research largely used measures such as body figure drawings and waist-to-hip ratio and that none reported visceral adipose tissue (VAT). Across included studies, the weight of evidence indicated endometriosis was associated with low overall adiposity and a preponderance of adipose tissue distributed below the waist (peripheral), while a major limitation was the paucity of precise, standardized adiposity assessment methods and the absence of VAT measures. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it reviews evidence linking endometriosis with overall adiposity and peripheral fat distribution and highlights gaps such as the lack of VAT data.

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Endometriosis has been associated with a lean body habitus. However, we do not understand whether endometriosis is also associated with other characteristics of adiposity, including adipose tissue distribution and amount of visceral adipose tissue (VAT; adipose tissue lining inner organs). Having these understandings may provide insights on how endometriosis develops-some of the physiological actions of adipose tissue differ depending on tissue amount and location and are related to proposed mechanisms of endometriosis development. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to review the literature regarding overall adiposity, adipose tissue distribution and/or VAT, and endometriosis. METHODS: We reviewed and synthesized studies indexed in PubMed and/or Web of Science. We included studies that had one or more measures of overall adiposity, adipose tissue distribution, and/or VAT and women with and without endometriosis for comparison. We summarized the findings and commented on the methods used and potential sources of bias. RESULTS: Of 366 identified publications, 19 (5.2%) were eligible. Two additional publications were identified from reference lists. Current research included measures of overall adiposity (e.g., body figure drawings) or adipose tissue distribution (e.g., waist-to-hip ratio), but not VAT. The weight of evidence indicated that endometriosis was associated with low overall adiposity and with a preponderance of adipose tissue distributed below the waist (peripheral). DISCUSSION: Endometriosis may be associated with being lean or having peripherally distributed adipose tissue. Well-designed studies with various sampling frameworks and precise measures of adiposity and endometriosis are needed to confirm associations between adiposity measures and endometriosis and delineate potential etiological mechanisms underlying endometriosis.

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Adiposity Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Humans Intra-Abdominal Fat

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

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Cited by (28)

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