Exposure to Certain Pesticides May Increase a Woman's Endometriosis Risk

A new study links organochlorine pesticides with an increased risk of endometriosis, a painful disorder that occurs when cells from the lining of a woman's uterus grow in other parts of the body.

Led by scientists from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the report found that women with higher exposures to the pesticides mirex and beta HCH showed a 30 to 70 percent increased risk for the condition known to impact a woman's ability of becoming pregnant.

"Since endometriosis is an estrogen-driven condition, we were interested in investigating the role of environmental chemicals that have estrogenic properties, such as organochlorine pesticides, on the risk of the disease," said lead and corresponding author Kristen Upson, Ph.D., who was a predoctoral research student when the study was conducted.

The team looked at 248 women recently diagnosed with endometriosis as well as 538 without the disorder.

"We found it interesting that despite organochlorine pesticides being restricted in use or banned in the U.S. for the past several decades, these chemicals were detectable in the blood samples of women in our study and were associated with increased endometriosis risk," Upson said.

"The take-home message from our study is that persistent environmental chemicals," she concluded, "even those used in the past, may affect the health of the current generation of reproductive-age women with regard to a hormonally driven disease."

Victoria Holt, Ph.D., a researcher from both Fred Hutchinson and the University of Washington School of Public Health, acted as the principal investigator of the study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

According to Holt: "This research is important, as endometriosis is a serious condition that can adversely affect the quality of a woman's life, yet we still do not have a clear understanding of why endometriosis develops in some women but not in others. Our study provides another piece of the puzzle."