Home Family Practice Leanness, Tallness in School-Aged Girls Linked to Risk for Endometriosis

Leanness, Tallness in School-Aged Girls Linked to Risk for Endometriosis

Inverse link found for childhood BMI with endometriosis; positive link found for height with endometriosis

TUESDAY, March 10, 2020 (HealthDay News) — For girls, leanness and tallness during school age are associated with increased risks for endometriosis, but not adenomyosis, according to a study published online March 9 in the Annals of Human Biology.

Julie Aarestrup, Ph.D., from the Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues examined whether birth weight, childhood body mass index (BMI), and height are associated with endometriosis and adenomyosis among 171,447 girls born in 1930 to 1996 with measured weights and heights at ages 7 to 13 years.

The researchers identified 2,149 endometriosis cases and 1,410 adenomyosis cases during follow-up. There was an inverse association for childhood BMI with endometriosis (hazard ratio, 0.92 per z-score at age 7 years). A positive association was seen for childhood height with endometriosis (hazard ratio, 1.09). There was no difference in associations with childhood body size by endometriosis location. Limited associations were seen for childhood BMI and height with adenomyosis. There was no association between birth weight and endometriosis or adenomyosis.

“These findings provide novel insights into the etiology of endometriosis and adenomyosis and aid in the current limited understanding of the critical time window for anthropometric exposures in relation to risks of these diseases,” the authors write.

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