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Endometriosis: a premenopausal disease? Age pattern in 42,079 patients with endometriosis

Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics volume 286, pages 667–670 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Purpose

The objectives of this study were to examine the age distribution among women suffering from endometriosis and to establish that endometriosis is not a disease that occurs only in premenopausal women. The null hypothesis was that there are also postmenopausal women with endometriosis.

Methods

In a retrospective epidemiological study, a descriptive analysis of data from the Federal Statistical Office in Germany for 2005 and 2006 was carried out. A total of 42,079 women in Germany were admitted for surgical treatment due to histologically confirmed endometriosis during this period. The patients’ age distribution was examined and they were assigned to 5-year age groups and then to premenopausal, perimenopausal, and postmenopausal subgroups.

Results

A total of 20,835 women in 2005 and 21,244 in 2006 were admitted to hospital for the treatment of endometriosis. In the premenopausal group (age 0–45 years), there were 33,814 patients (80.36 %); 23 patients (0.05 %) in this premenopausal group were younger than 15. There were 7,191 patients (17.09 %) in the perimenopausal group (45–55 years), and the postmenopausal group (55–95 years) included 1,074 patients (2.55 %).

Conclusions

The assumption that endometriosis is a disease of the premenopausal period and in women of reproductive age needs to be called into question, as well as the influence of estrogen in fully developed endometriosis. Due to the relatively high prevalence of the condition in patients aged over 40, physicians should consider endometriosis in cases of unclear pelvic pain in this age group.

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Acknowledgments

None of the authors has received any financial support for this paper, and it has not previously been presented at any meeting or conference.

Conflict of interest

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Linz General Hospital, Krankenhausstrasse 9, 4021, Linz, Austria

    Dietmar Haas, Radek Chvatal, Helge Binder, Peter Wurm & Peter Oppelt

  2. Department of Gynecology, Erlangen University Hospital, Universitätsstrasse 21–23, 91054, Erlangen, Germany

    Dietmar Haas, Björn Reichert, Stefan Renner, Helge Binder & Peter Oppelt

  3. Landes- Frauen- und Kinderklinik Linz, Krankenhausstrasse 26–30, 4020, Linz, Austria

    Omar Shebl

  4. Kantonsspital Uri, Spitalstrasse 1, 6460, Altdorf, Switzerland

    Helge Binder

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  1. Dietmar Haas
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  2. Radek Chvatal
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  3. Björn Reichert
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  4. Stefan Renner
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  5. Omar Shebl
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Correspondence to Peter Oppelt.

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Haas, D., Chvatal, R., Reichert, B. et al. Endometriosis: a premenopausal disease? Age pattern in 42,079 patients with endometriosis. Arch Gynecol Obstet 286, 667–670 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-012-2361-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-012-2361-z

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