Study Highlights Link Between Endometriosis and Mental Health Problems

The study confirmed the link between endometriosis and mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.

Key Points

Highlights: 

• The first large-scale study showing a link between endometriosis and mental health problems is published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Importance:

• This publication underscores the importance of appropriate psychological support. 

What's done here:

• Researchers analyzed more than 200,000 women not connected by kinship,  8276 with endometriosis, between September 2021 and June 2022.

Key results:

• There is a link between endometriosis and depression, eating disorders, and anxiety.
• The genetic liabilities to depression and anxiety are associated with a higher risk of endometriosis.
• There is evidence of pleiotropy between endometriosis and depression with one locus identified (DGKB rs12666606).

Limitations:

• The analysis was underpowered to test the association between endometriosis and psychiatric disorders.
• Anxiety and depression could increase the number of visits a person pays to the hospital, which can in turn increase the rate of an endometriosis diagnosis.
• Only women of European descent were included in this study and the results may not apply to other ethnic groups.

Lay Summary

Endometriosis is associated with mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, and eating disorders found a new study published in the journal JAMA Network Open. This is the first large-scale study showing a link between endometriosis and the mental health of the patients.

Endometriosis is a condition that negatively affects almost all aspects of a woman’s life. 

In order to better understand how the disease affects a patient’s mental health, a team of researchers led by Dr. Renato Polimanti conducted a genetic association study from September 13, 2021, to June 24, 2022.

The researchers analyzed a total of 202 276 women who were unrelated. Of these, 8276 had endometriosis. 

The results showed that there was an association between endometriosis and depression, eating disorders, and anxiety. 

The results also showed that the genetic liabilities to depression and anxiety were associated with a higher risk of endometriosis.

Finally, a genome-wide analysis of pleiotropic associations identified one gene called DGKB,  which is linked both to endometriosis and depression.

“These findings highlight that endometriosis is associated with women's mental health through pleiotropic mechanisms,” wrote the authors of the study.

Research Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36652249/