Endometriosis Associated With Increased Coronary Heart Disease Risk

(HealthDay News) — Laparoscopically confirmed endometriosis is associated with increased subsequent risk for coronary heart disease (CHD), according to a study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

Fan Mu, ScD, from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and colleagues assessed the correlation between laparoscopically confirmed endometriosis and subsequent CHD. The correlation was assessed among 116 430 women from the Nurses’ Health Study II, excluding those with a history of heart disease and stroke.

The researchers found that women with laparoscopically confirmed endometriosis had a higher risk for myocardial infarction, angiographically confirmed angina, coronary artery bypass graft surgery/coronary angioplasty procedure/stent, or any of these CHD outcomes combined (relative risks, 1.52, 1.91, 1.35, and 1.62, respectively), compared with women without endometriosis. 

These findings were independent of potential demographic, anthropometric, family history, reproductive, and lifestyle confounding variables. 

Women aged 40 years and younger had the highest relative risk for the combined CHD end point (relative risk, 3.08), which decreased with increasing age. The risk for combined CHD was elevated for those having had a hysterectomy/oophorectomy (relative risk, 1.51). Overall, 42% of the correlation between endometriosis and CHD was attributable to greater frequency of hysterectomy/oophorectomy and earlier age at surgery after endometriosis diagnosis.

“These data have implications for clinical management of endometriosis patients, suggesting that women with endometriosis may represent a high-risk group for CHD,” the researchers wrote.

Reference

1. Mu F, Rich-Edwards J, Rimm EB, Speigelman D, Missmer SA. Endometriosis and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease. Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes. 2016. doi:10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.115.002224.