For how we live.
Hormones, surgery and painkillers can reduce pain and improve fertility, but none reliably alter the disease itself — and even removing the uterus does not guarantee the disease goes with it.
Tracking 3.6 million women over 24 years, researchers found women with endometriosis were nearly 3.5 times more likely to develop the condition before 40. Seventy percent of cases still have no identified cause.
The UK and Rwanda reported the highest anxiety, depression, and vasomotor symptom scores; Nepal, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Singapore reported the lowest. Burnout emerged as the symptom most connected to everything else.
A Danish registry study of 136,842 women found elevated antidepressant and anxiolytic prescribing in the decade preceding diagnosis, with psychiatric hospital contacts rising about five years before.
Pooling 11 cohort studies, researchers found a consistent cardiovascular signal in Asian and North American cohorts. European cohorts showed no elevated risk at all, a geographic split the analysis can't explain.
Using genetic variants as instruments, researchers found exercise and wellbeing lowered risk of PCOS, endometriosis and menstrual disorders, while screen time and mood swings raised it.
A Finnish national registry of over 11,000 women found up to 94% of endometriosis patients used menopausal hormone therapy after surgery, against 82% of a comparison group. The mix of hormones used is changing too.
The external validation of a micro-RNA signature outperformed imaging in 971 symptomatic patients. How it would perform in a lower-prevalence population is the question the study does not answer.
An EMAS clinical guide sets out how to manage endometriosis after menopause, advising against oestrogen-only hormone therapy even in women who have had a hysterectomy.