The Formidable yet Unresolved Interplay between Endometriosis and Obesity

Athanasios Pantelis, Nikolaos Machairiotis, Dimitris P Lapatsanis
TheScientificWorldJournal · 2021 · vol. 2021 , pp. 1–10 · doi:10.1155/2021/6653677 · PMID:33986637 · W3153009711
review OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 35 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This review examines the complex, often contradictory relationship between endometriosis and obesity, highlighting inconsistent correlations, genetic influences, and potential pathophysiological links through angiogenesis and inflammation.

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Abstract

Obesity and endometriosis are two very common entities, yet there is uncertainty on their exact relationship. Observational studies have repeatedly shown an inverse correlation between endometriosis and a low body mass index (BMI). However, obesity does not protect against endometriosis and on the contrary an increased BMI may lead to more severe forms of the disease. Besides, BMI is not accurate in all cases of obesity. Consequently, other anthropometric and phenomic traits have been studied, including body adiposity content, as well as the effect of BMI early in life on the manifestation of endometriosis in adulthood. Some studies have shown that the phenotypic inverse correlation between the two entities has a genetic background; however, others have indicated that certain polymorphisms are linked with endometriosis in females with increased BMI. The advent of metabolic bariatric surgery and pertinent research have led to the emergence of biomolecules that may be pivotal in understanding the pathophysiological interaction of the two entities, especially in the context of angiogenesis and inflammation. Future research should focus on three objectives: detection and interpretation of obesity-related biomarkers in experimental models with endometriosis; integration of endometriosis-related queries into bariatric registries; and multidisciplinary approach and collaboration among specialists.

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Gene-Environment Interaction Gene Expression Regulation Obesity Phenomics Adiponectin Adiponectin Adiponectin Adiposity Adiposity Anthropometry Bariatric Surgery Bariatric Surgery Biomarkers Biomarkers Body Mass Index Case-Control Studies Chemokines Chemokines Chemokines

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.

References (72)

Cited by (35)

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