Patients with endometriosis or uterine fibroids have a slightly higher risk of dying before the age of 70 due to more common pathologies such as certain cancers, suggests a large study published Thursday, November 21.
“Endometriosis and uterine fibroids (are) associated, in the long term, at a higher risk of early mortality“, conclude the authors of the study published in the BMJ. This work was carried out using a cohort of women who were regularly followed for around thirty years. This type of study, even if it cannot establish cause and effect, is generally very robust.
Here it is approximately 100,000 American nurseswhose health status has been measured every two years since 1989. From these data, researchers established that patients with endometriosis and uterine fibroids were slightly more likely to die before the age of 70 years, a threshold that they define as that of an early death.
Cancers and respiratory diseases
This risk is explained by the already known existence of pathologies more frequently associated with endometriosis and uterine fibroids. For the latter, it is essentially a question of certain cancerswhile for endometriosis, the range of risks is wider with for example certain respiratory diseases.
The risk of dying early remains relatively low for patients. For endometriosis, it is thus multiplied by 1.19 compared to patients who are not affected by these pathologies. But the data underline the importance of taking into account the existence of these disorders during routine examinations, for example carried out by general practitioners, emphasize the authors.
This work takes place in a context where women’s health is the subject of greater attention from researchers and policy makers. Endometriosis affects around one in ten women and usually results in severe pain during periods and/or fertility problems.
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