Maltreatment during childhood: a risk factor for the development of endometriosis?

STUDY QUESTION

Is maltreatment during childhood (MC), e.g. sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse and neglect, associated with diagnosis of endometriosis?

SUMMARY ANSWER

Childhood sexual abuse, emotional abuse/neglect and inconsistency experiences were associated with the diagnosis of endometriosis while no such association was found for physical abuse/neglect and other forms of maltreatment.

WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY

Symptoms of endometriosis such as chronic pelvic pain, fatigue and depression, are correlated with MC, as are immune reactions linked to endometriosis. These factors support a case for a potential role of MC in the development of endometriosis.

STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: The study was designed as a multicentre retrospective case-control study. Women with a diagnosis of endometriosis were matched to control women from the same clinic/doctor's office with regard to age (±3 years) and ethnic background. A total of 421 matched pairs were included in the study.

PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: Women with endometriosis and control women were recruited in university hospitals, district hospitals, and doctors' offices in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. A German-language version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) was used to evaluate MC. Diagnosis of endometriosis was confirmed histologically and classified according to ASRM criteria.

MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE

Women with endometriosis reported significantly more often than control women a history of sexual abuse (20%/14%, P = 0.0197), emotional abuse (44%/28%, P < 0.0001), emotional neglect (50%/42%, P = 0.0123) and inconsistency experiences (53%/41%, P = 0.0007). No statistically significant differences could be demonstrated for physical abuse/neglect (31%/26%, P = 0.1738). Combinations of different abuse/neglect experiences were described significantly more often in women with endometriosis. Frequencies of other MC, i.e. violence against the mother (8%/7%, P = 0.8222), drug abuse in the family (5%/3%, P = 0.0943), mentally handicapped family members (1%/1%, P = 0.7271), suicidal intentions in the family (6%/4%, P = 0.2879) and family members in prison (1%/1%, P = 0.1597) were not statistically different in women with endometriosis and control women.

LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION: Some control women might present asymptomatic endometriosis, which would lead to underestimation of our findings. The exclusion of pregnant women may have biased the results. Statistical power for sub-analyses of physical abuse/neglect and sexual abuse was limited.

WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS

A link to MC needs to be considered in women with endometriosis. As there are effective strategies to avoid long-term consequences of MC, healthcare professionals should inquire about such experiences in order to be able to provide treatment for the consequences as early as possible.

STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S): None.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

Endo_QoL NCT02511626.