Endometriosis linked with increased stroke risk

August 2, 2022 – People with a history of endometriosis had a greater risk for stroke than those without endometriosis, a study found.

The study analyzed 28 years’ worth of data from participants in the Nurses Health Study II. The participants completed questionnaires about their health every two years.

In a July 21, 2022, Healio article, study co-author Stacey Missmer of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health noted that the increased risk of stroke in people with endometriosis is still very small. “We do not want this to create panic or frighten women,” said Missmer, adjunct professor in the Department of Epidemiology. “However, these data reinforce for us that, in general, endometriosis is not just a gynecological condition. Pelvic pain is important and undervalued, but there are impacts beyond reproductive health. This impacts whole women’s health across their entire life course.”

Missmer urged primary care physicians and gynecologists to “pay attention to things like hypertension and hypercholesterolemia for people with endometriosis.”

Read the Healio news article: Endometriosis may increase stroke risk in women