title: Women with endometriosis have higher comorbidities: Analysis of domestic data in Taiwan.
abstract: Endometriosis, defined by the presence of viable extrauterine endometrial glands and stroma, can grow or bleed cyclically, and possesses characteristics including a destructive, invasive, and metastatic nature. Since endometriosis may result in pelvic inflammation, adhesion, chronic pain, and infertility, and can progress to biologically malignant tumors, it is a long-term major health issue in women of reproductive age. In this review, we analyze the Taiwan domestic research addressing associations between endometriosis and other diseases. Concerning malignant tumors, we identified four studies on the links between endometriosis and ovarian cancer, one on breast cancer, two on endometrial cancer, one on colorectal cancer, and one on other malignancies, as well as one on associations between endometriosis and irritable bowel syndrome, one on links with migraine headache, three on links with pelvic inflammatory diseases, four on links with infertility, four on links with obesity, four on links with chronic liver disease, four on links with rheumatoid arthritis, four on links with chronic renal disease, five on links with diabetes mellitus, and five on links with cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, etc.). The data available to date support that women with endometriosis might be at risk of some chronic illnesses and certain malignancies, although we consider the evidence for some comorbidities to be of low quality, for example, the association between colon cancer and adenomyosis/endometriosis. We still believe that the risk of comorbidity might be higher in women with endometriosis than that we supposed before. More research is needed to determine whether women with endometriosis are really at risk of these comorbidities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Cardinal Tien Hospital-Hsintien, New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Sen-Wen
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Teng
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Huann-Cheng
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Horng
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Chi-Hong
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Ming-Shyen
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Yen
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Hsiang-Tai
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Chao
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: phwang@vghtpe.gov.tw.
authors.forename: Peng-Hui
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000077216:Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial; D015897:Comorbidity; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology; D004715:Endometriosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009375:Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / Q000209:etiology; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Taiwan; comorbidity; endometriosis