The scientists used data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health to conduct the research.
UQ School of Public Health researcher, Dr. Katrina Moss, said women whose endometriosis went undiagnosed until after they began fertility treatment ended up doing more cycles, used treatments that aren’t recommended, and were less likely to have a baby.
Moss said, “By contrast, our study found women who were diagnosed with endometriosis before fertility treatment experienced the same outcomes as those without the condition
“Australian women can wait between four and 11 years before being diagnosed with endometriosis, and delayed diagnosis reduced the chances of fertility treatments being successful.
“In our national study of 1,322 women, 35 per cent of participants had endometriosis and one-third of those weren’t diagnosed until after they started their fertility treatment.
“Women who were diagnosed late were 4 times more likely to do a lot of cycles, sometimes up to 36 cycles of fertility treatment
“They were also 33 per cent less likely to report a birth.”
Fertility specialist and UQ Centre for Clinical Research Professor, Hayden Homer said early diagnosis of endometriosis and early access to IVF created a level playing field, as the same outcomes were recorded for women who did not have the condition.
“It is highly advantageous to diagnose endometriosis before starting fertility treatment and to adjust the treatment accordingly.
“Otherwise, women are less likely to have a child and face a higher financial and psychological treatment burden.
“It is critical to remain highly vigilant about the possibility of endometriosis amongst women who are thinking about fertility treatment, especially in the presence of severe pelvic pain,” Prof. Homer said.
In a 2016 study by researchers at the University of Southampton, United Kingdom, it was found that egg quality is severely compromised in endometriosis.
Also published in ScienceDaily, the study found that the ability of the egg to mature was blocked by endometriosis, and furthermore that eggs could suffer serious damage by exposure to follicular fluid from women with endometriosis.
Dr. Simon Lane, Research Fellow at the University of Southampton who led the study said: “We believe these results could have clinical implications for many women struggling to fall pregnant.
“We found that fluid from the follicles of patients with endometriosis was found to block egg maturation by generating free-radical chemicals called Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) in the egg, which damaged their DNA. This damage caused the egg not to mature, and hence it could not be fertilised.
“More research is now needed to investigate whether the damage caused by endometriosis is treatable or preventable.”
source: HealthWise
