Perinatal environment and endometriosis

Edgardo Somigliana, Paola Vigano, Paola Viganò, Annalisa Abbiati, Abbiati A, Alessio Paffoni, Laura Benaglia, Paolo Vercellini, Luigi Fedele
Gynecologic and obstetric investigation · 2011 · vol. 72(2) , pp. 135–140 · doi:10.1159/000323531 · PMID:21625060 · W2075892697
Observational OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 23 in-corpus citations
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This study found women with endometriosis were less likely to be left- or mixed-handed, suggesting a potential prenatal hormonal influence, but found no associations with other perinatal environmental factors.

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Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Perinatal environmental exposure may affect fetal development and reprogram the developing organism for adult-onset disease. In this case-control study, we aimed at assessing this pathogenetic model in endometriosis. METHODS: Consecutive patients with a first laparoscopic diagnosis of endometriosis were selected as cases. Controls were women who underwent laparoscopy during the same study period, but who were found to be free of the disease. Selected women and their mothers were interviewed. RESULTS: Ninety-one women with endometriosis and 82 controls were selected. Handedness, a variable believed to be determined prenatally by hormonal environment in utero significantly differed between the study groups. Women with the disease were less likely to be left- or mixed-handed (adjusted OR: 0.24, 95% CI: 0.08-0.71). In contrast, we failed to detect any association with birth order, maternal age, smoking, nausea, weight gain, prematurity, birth weight and breast-feeding. CONCLUSIONS: Our results generally do not support the view that in utero exposure may play a major role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. The association with handedness, however, is intriguing in this regard and deserves further investigation.

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Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endometriosis Adult Adult Case-Control Studies Case-Control Studies Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Female Humans Humans Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Italy Italy Italy Perinatal Care Perinatal Care Pregnancy

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

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. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (27)

Cited by (23)

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