Association between vitamin D and endometriosis: a systematic review

Background Endometriosis is one of the most common gynecological diseases of reproductive age, with a prevalence of 5–10% and grave consequences for quality of life and fertility. Vitamin D (vit D), a classic regulator of plasma calcium concentration and skeleton mineralization, is also an effective modulator of the immune system. Several studies suggest that immunologic properties attributed to vit D along with vit D receptor (VDR) expression in reproductive tissues may be involved in the pathogenesis of endometriosis.

To systematically review the literature for the association between components of vit D metabolism and endometriosis.

A systematic review of the literature published in the Medline and Cochrane Central databases was conducted for original research articles on humans, published in any language.

Twenty-one studies were included in the systematic review. Among them, 12 examined the relationship of endometriosis with vit D metabolites, eight with vit D–binding protein (VDBP), three with VDR polymorphisms, and two with vit D regulatory enzymes. There are discrepancies between the outcomes of the available literature publications.

This is a systematic attempt to collect, evaluate, and present the known data on the association between vit D and endometriosis. Given the heterogeneity and the diversity of the present studies, more research is required to elucidate the association between vit D and endometriosis. Similar content being viewed by others

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Rights and permissions About this article Cite this article Kalaitzopoulos, D.R., Lempesis, I., Athanasaki, F. et al. Association between vitamin D and endometriosis: a systematic review. Hormones 19, 109–121 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42000-019-00166-w Received: Accepted: Published: Version of record: Issue date: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42000-019-00166-w