TABLE 1.
Characteristics of the women at recruitment.
| No endometriosis (n = 673) |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | Endometriosis (n = 745) |
Symptomatic (n = 587) |
P valuea | Laparoscopic sterilization (n = 86) |
P valueb |
| Demographic/personal | |||||
| Age (y) [Mean (SD)] | 32.5 (6.2) | 33.1 (6.4) | .10 | 37.2 (5.0) | <.001 |
| Postsecondary education [% (n)] |
69.9 (521) | 61.7(362) | .004 | 45.3 (39) | <.001 |
| In employment [% (n)] | 78.5 (585) | 73.6 (432) | .054 | 70.9 (61) | .067 |
| Ethnicity [% (n)] | .005 | <.001 | |||
| White | 50.1 (373) | 45.3 (266) | 48.8 (42) | ||
| Asian/Oriental | 32.0 (238) | 35.4 (208) | 8.1 (7) | ||
| Black | 7.0 (52) | 10.6 (62) | 8.1 (7) | ||
| Other/mixed | 9.7 (72) | 6.1 (36) | 33.7 (29) | ||
| Married or living with partner [% (n)] |
73.3 (546) | 80.2 (471) | .002 | 84.9 (73) | .017 |
| Body mass index (kg/m2) [mean (SD)] |
22.5 (4.1) | 23.4 (4.8) | <.001 | 25.2 (4.4) | <.001 |
| Smoked >100 cigarettes in lifetime [% (n)] |
27.2 (203) | 25.6 (150) | .53 | 39.5 (34) | .012 |
| Regular vigorous exercise in past 3 months [% (n) |
27.0 (201) | 25.2 (148) | .86 | 20.9 (18) | .54 |
| Clinical | |||||
| Hormonal contraception in past 3 months [% (n)] |
23.4 (174) | 16.9(99) | .004 | 45.3 (39) | <.001 |
| Reasons for hormonal contraception [% (n)] | .42 | <.001 | |||
| Contraception/other | 58.6 (102) | 63.6 (63) | 97.4 (38) | ||
| Pelvic pain, irregular or heavy periods |
40.2 (70) | 35.4 (35) | 2.6 (1) | ||
| Menstrual cycle length [% (n)] | .041 | .23 | |||
| ≤24 days | 16.2 (121) | 13.8(81) | 20.9 (18) | ||
| 25-32 days | 63.2 (471) | 60.3 (354) | 58.1 (50) | ||
| ≥33 days | 5.4 (40) | 8.5 (50) | 2.3 (2) | ||
| Menstrual duration (days) [mean (SD)] |
4.9 (2.8) | 4.9 (2.3) | .99 | 4.7 (2.4) | .63 |
| Parity [mean (SD)] | 0.2 (0.5) | 0.5(1.0) | <.001 | 1.8 (1.4) | <.001 |
| Gravidity [mean (SD)] | 0.5 (0.9) | 1.0(1.4) | <.001 | 2.3 (1.6) | <.001 |
| Subfertility [% (n)] | 39.6 (295) | 51.8 (304) | <.001 | 18.6 (16) | <.001 |
| Type of symptoms reported [% (n)] | |||||
| Pelvic pain, no subfertility |
42.7 (318) | 29.3 (172) | <.001 | 8.1 (7) | <.001 |
| Pelvic pain and subfertility |
17.7 (132) | 15.2 (89) | .21 | 2.3 (2) | <.001 |
| Subfertility, no pelvic pain |
13.4 (100) | 28.6(168) | <.001 | 4.7 (4) | .02 |
| No pelvic pain, no subfertility |
26.2 (195) | 27.1 (159) | .72 | 84.7 (73) | <.001 |
| No. of symptoms [mean (SD)] | |||||
| “Pelvic” symptoms | 1.5 (1.5) | 1.0 (1.3) | <.001 | 0.3 (0.9) | <.001 |
| “Bowel” symptoms | 0.5 (0.9) | 0.3 (0.6) | <.001 | 0.1 (0.4) | <.001 |
| “Urinary” symptoms | 0.2 (0.5) | 0.1 (0.4) | .015 | 0.0 (0.1) | .005 |
| “Pelvic mass” symptoms |
1.3 (0.8) | 0.9 (0.8) | <.001 | 1.0 (0.4) | .004 |
| Pelvic pain severity NRS 0–10 [mean (SD)] |
5.6 (2.2) | 4.7 (2.2) | <.001 | 5.0 (2.5) | .048 |
| Other pathologies at laparoscopy [% (n)] | |||||
| Nonendometriotic adhesions |
11.0 (82) | 34.2 (201) | <.001 | 10.5 (9) | .89 |
| Nonendometriotic cysts |
10.6(79) | 25.7 (151) | .018 | 4.7 (4) | .81 |
| Fibroids | 16.1 (120) | 21.5 (126) | .015 | 3.5 (3) | .54 |
| Otherc | 2.8 (21) | 8.2 (48) | <.001 | 1.2 (1) | .37 |
| Comorbidity [% (n)]d | |||||
| Cancer | 1.5 (11) | 1.9 (11) | .58 | 2.3 (2) | .55 |
| Autoimmune/atopic conditions |
19.7 (147) | 20.1 (118) | .64 | 14.0 (12) | .20 |
| Other | 76.9 (573) | 60.3 (354) | <.001 | 47.8 (41) | <.001 |
| Any | 82.4 (614) | 66.3 (389) | <.001 | 53.5 (46) | <.001 |
a
Endometriosis vs. symptomatic control subjects.
b
Endometriosis vs. laparoscopic sterilization control subjects.
c
Other pathologies were mainly teratoma and bilateral tubal blockage.
d
Cancer included breast and ovarian cancer, melanoma and Hodgkin/non-Hodgkin lymphoma; autoimmune/atopic conditions included asthma, eczema, Hashimoto disease, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren syndrome, thyroid disease, and systematic lupus erythematosus; Other included chronic fatigue syndrome, deafness, fibromyalgia, depression, diabetes, fibroids, glandular fever, imperforate hymen, migraines, ovarian cysts, polycystic ovarian syndrome, pyloric stenosis, scoliosis, and mitral valve prolapse.