Disorder associated with wide range of diseases.(endometriosis)

2002 OCT 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- U.S. researchers report in the journal Human Reproduction that women with endometriosis are significantly more likely than other women to suffer from a number of additional distressing or disabling conditions.

These include a variety of autoimmune diseases, allergies, asthma, hypothyroidism, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.

Their findings are from the first population-based study in the world to investigate whether a range of other disorders are more prevalent in women with endometriosis, which affects an estimated 8-10% of women of reproductive age.

The results - which confirmed there was typically a 10-year delay between onset of symptoms and a diagnosis of endometriosis - have prompted the researchers to urge doctors, especially those taking care of adolescents, to consider a diagnosis of endometriosis in girls and women complaining of pelvic pain and to watch out for other potentially serious conditions in these patients.

The research team from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Maryland, the School of Public Health and Health Services at George Washington University in Washington, DC, and the Endometriosis Association in Milwaukee, carried out and analyzed a survey of 3680 members of the Endometriosis Association, 90% of whom were of reproductive age. All the women had surgically diagnosed endometriosis.

They found that among these women:

* 20% had more than one other disease.