Pregnancy complications in patients with endometriosis

Prenatal exposure to estrogenic substances (such as DES) and environmental toxins (such as bisphenols) may increase the incidence of endometriosis in female offspring

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Zullo et al. have done an extensive and thorough meta-analysis of the literature concerning endometriosis and pregnancy complications, one of the largest and most comprehensive studies to date.

Their systematic review and meta-analysis : endometriosis and obstetrics complications, provides further insight into endometriosis and pregnancy by combining the many heterogeneous studies on this topic, and it raises awareness of the many implications of endometriosis.

2017 Study Abstract

Objective
To evaluate the effect of endometriosis on pregnancy outcomes.

Design
Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Setting
Not applicable.

Patient(s)
Women with or without endometriosis.

Intervention(s)
Electronic databases searched from their inception until February 2017 with no limit for language and with all cohort studies reporting the incidence of obstetric complications in women with a diagnosis of endometriosis compared with a control group (women without a diagnosis of endometriosis) included.

Main Outcome Measure(s)
Primary outcome of incidence of preterm birth at <37 weeks with meta-analysis performed using the random effects model of DerSimonian and Laird to produce an odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI).

Result(s)
Twenty-four studies were analyzed comprising 1,924,114 women. In most of them, the diagnosis of endometriosis was made histologically after surgery. Women with endometriosis had a statistically significantly higher risk of preterm birth (OR 1.63; 95% CI, 1.32-2.01), miscarriage (OR 1.75; 95% CI, 1.29-2.37), placenta previa (OR 3.03; 95% CI, 1.50-6.13), small for gestational age (OR 1.27; 95% CI, 1.03-1.57), and cesarean delivery (OR 1.57; 95% CI, 1.39-1.78) compared with the healthy controls. No differences were found in the incidence of gestational hypertension and preeclampsia.

Conclusion(s)
Women with endometriosis have a statistically significantly higher risk of preterm birth, miscarriage, placenta previa, small for gestational age infants, and cesarean delivery.

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