Endometriosis is a condition that affects 10%–15% of women of childbearing age, in which elements of the endometrium develop outside of the uterus, causing chronic progressive pelvic pain and infertility. Women also have a four times higher risk of developing autoimmune diseases than men. A recent publication by Nina Shigesi and colleagues from the University of Oxford identified a relationship between endometriosis and autoimmune disease in women.
The study analysed the relationship between endometriosis and autoimmune diseases on both a phenotypic (disease presentation) and genotypic (genetic) level. The phenotypic study was separated into a retrospective cohort and a cross-sectional study. The retrospective cohort sought to determine whether women who had been…