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Comparative Study
. 2011 Aug;96(2):360-5.
doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2011.05.087. Epub 2011 Jun 29.

Incidence of endometriosis by study population and diagnostic method: the ENDO study

Germaine M Buck Louis  1 , Mary L Hediger, C Matthew Peterson, Mary Croughan, Rajeshwari Sundaram, Joseph Stanford, Zhen Chen, Victor Y Fujimoto, Michael W Varner, Ann Trumble, Linda C Giudice; ENDO Study Working Group
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Incidence of endometriosis by study population and diagnostic method: the ENDO study

Germaine M Buck Louis et al. Fertil Steril. 2011 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the incidence of endometriosis in an operative cohort of women seeking clinical care and in a matched population cohort to delineate more fully the scope and magnitude of endometriosis in the context of and beyond clinical care.

Design: Matched-exposure cohort design.

Setting: Surgical centers in the Salt Lake City, Utah, and San Francisco, California, areas.

Patient(s): The operative cohort comprised 495 women undergoing laparoscopy/laparotomy between 2007 and 2009, and the population cohort comprised 131 women from the surgical centers' catchment areas.

Intervention(s): None.

Main outcome measure(s): Incidence of endometriosis by diagnostic method in the operative cohort and by pelvic magnetic resonance imaged (MRI) disease in the population cohort.

Result(s): Endometriosis incidence in the operative cohort ranged by two orders of magnitude by diagnostic method: 0.7% for only histology, 7% for only MRI, and 41% for visualized disease. Endometriosis staging was skewed toward minimal (58%) and mild disease (15%). The incidence of MRI-diagnosed endometriosis was 11% in the population cohort.

Conclusion(s): Endometriosis incidence is dependent on the diagnostic method and choice of sampling framework. Conservatively, 11% of women have undiagnosed endometriosis at the population level, with implications for the design and interpretation of etiologic research.

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References

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