Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy.
Centre for Assisted Reproductive Technology, Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Careggi University Hospital, 50134 Florence, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Sep 27;24(19):14601. doi: 10.3390/ijms241914601.
Endometriosis is a chronic and inflammatory disease associated with pelvic pain. Dietary changes may be therapeutic for chronic inflammatory processes, reducing visceral input. The aim was to evaluate the role of dietary changes according to the Mediterranean Diet (MD) on pain perception in endometriosis and their relationship with oxidative stress.
in this prospective study, we included 35 endometriosis women. At baseline (T0) and after 3 (T1) and 6 (T2) months from the start of the diet, we investigated pain intensity with VAS (Visual Analogue Scale, from 0 to 10), vitamin profile, and oxidative stress.
we found a significant increase in the diet score ( < 0.001). At T1, patients reduced pain in terms of dyspareunia ( = 0.04), non-menstrual pelvic pain ( = 0.06), dysuria ( = 0.04), and dyschezia ( < 0.001). Dyspareunia ( = 0.002) and dyschezia ( < 0.001) were further significantly reduced also at T2. We observed a significant positive correlation between lipid peroxidation and VAS non-menstrual pelvic pain and dysuria and a significant negative correlation between Oxygen radical absorbance capacity and VAS non-menstrual pain and dyschezia.
our findings show a clear tendency toward a relationship between pain relief in endometriosis and MD. This appears promising to treat endometriosis-related symptoms and could be considered a new effective strategy for chronic pain management in the long term.
子宫内膜异位症是一种与盆腔疼痛相关的慢性炎症性疾病。饮食改变可能对慢性炎症过程具有治疗作用，减少内脏传入。目的是评估根据地中海饮食（MD）改变饮食对子宫内膜异位症疼痛感知的作用及其与氧化应激的关系。
在这项前瞻性研究中，我们纳入了 35 名子宫内膜异位症患者。在基线（T0）和开始饮食后 3 个月（T1）和 6 个月（T2），我们用视觉模拟量表（VAS，从 0 到 10）评估疼痛强度、维生素谱和氧化应激。
我们发现饮食评分显著增加（<0.001）。在 T1 时，患者在性交痛（=0.04）、非经期盆腔痛（=0.06）、尿痛（=0.04）和排便困难（<0.001）方面减轻了疼痛。性交痛（=0.002）和排便困难（<0.001）在 T2 时也进一步显著减轻。我们观察到脂质过氧化与 VAS 非经期盆腔痛和尿痛呈显著正相关，氧自由基吸收能力与 VAS 非经期疼痛和排便困难呈显著负相关。
我们的发现表明，子宫内膜异位症疼痛缓解与 MD 之间存在明显的关系倾向。这似乎有望治疗与子宫内膜异位症相关的症状，并可被视为长期慢性疼痛管理的一种新的有效策略。
