Endometriosis not a risk factor for type 2 diabetes

The presence of endometriosis does not appear to contribute to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes in women, according to a study.

For the study, researchers used data from the prospective E3N cohort and included 98,995 French women who were 40–65 years old at baseline. The association between endometriosis and diabetes was estimated using multivariable Cox regression. Additionally, the researchers examined whether the association was modified by age, body mass index (BMI), infertility treatment, adherence to the Mediterranean diet, and menopausal status.

The mean age of the cohort was 51 years. Among 83,582 women with no history of diabetes at inclusion, 4,606 had surgically-confirmed endometriosis. A total of 2,672 incident cases of type 2 diabetes were recorded.

Endometriosis showed no association with the risk of type 2 diabetes in a Cox regression model adjusted for age, BMI, physical activity, smoking, education, age at menarche, and oral contraceptive use (hazard ratio [HR], 1.09, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.92–1.29).

The results persisted after further adjustment for family history of diabetes, hypertension, and menopausal status (HR, 0.97, 95 percent CI, 0.80–1.16).

Finally, the estimates did not differ by age at inclusion, BMI, infertility treatment, diet, or menopausal status (p>0.05).

The findings indicate that endometriosis is not a risk marker for type 2 diabetes.