A Link Between Endometriosis and Sleep Disturbances

The assessment of sleep disturbances should be standardized.

Key Points

Highlights: 

• There is an association between endometriosis and sleep disturbances.

Importance:

• Sleep disturbances should be assessed and addressed adequately in patients with endometriosis.

What’s done here:

• This is a systematic review of the literature to assess the possible link between endometriosis and sleep disturbances.
• Overall, 320 articles were screened based on the titles and abstracts, resulting in 23 potentially eligible ones; full-text screening resulted in the inclusion of 9 articles.

Key results:

• There was heterogeneity in the way sleep disturbances were assessed among the studies.
• 7 out of 9 studies reported a significant positive association between endometriosis and sleep disturbances.

Limitations:

• The limited number of publications on endometriosis and sleep disturbance; and assessment of only articles published in English are the limitations.

Lay Summary

There seems to be a link between sleep disturbances and endometriosis, according to a systematic review of the literature. This information can help shape future clinical recommendations to screen for and treat sleep disturbances in patients with endometriosis and improve their quality of life. 

To shed light on the possible association between endometriosis and sleep disturbances, a team of researchers led by Dr. Sarah J Holdsworth-Carson from the Julia Argyrou Endometriosis Centre at Epworth HealthCare in Richmond and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, at the University of Melbourne, Royal Women's Hospital in Parkville, Australia conducted a literature search of studies involving participants, ages 18 and older, which compared sleep outcomes between patients with endometriosis and people without the disease.

This way they identified and analysed 9 studies of which 6 were case-control and 3 were cross-sectional studies.  

The studies showed that even though there was heterogeneity in the assessment of sleep disturbances, 7 reported a significant positive link between endometriosis and sleep disturbances. 

This association was further complicated by the complex interaction between pain, fatigue, and quality of life.

“Future studies should aim to standardise the methods of assessing sleep disturbances and explore potential contributing factors,” the researchers wrote in a report that they published in the European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology.

Research Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38091847/