Yamamoto A, et al. - Whether higher intake of red meat, poultry, fish, and seafood were associated with risk of laparoscopically-confirmed endometriosis was determined in this prospective cohort study. Among premenopausal US nurses, red meat consumption could be an important modifiable risk factor for endometriosis, especially among women with endometriosis who had not reported infertility, thereby, were more expected to present with pain symptoms.

Methods

• From 1991 to 2013, eighty-one thousand, nine hundred eight members of the prospective Nurses’ Health Study II were followed.
• Through food frequency questionnaire, diet was assessed every 4 years.
• Researchers used Cox proportional hazards models to calculate rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results

• According to the findings obtained, 3,800 cases of incident laparoscopically-confirmed endometriosis were reported during 1,019,294 person-years of follow-up.
• It was observed in the findings that women consuming >2 servings/day of red meat/day had a 56% higher risk in endometriosis (95% CI=1.22-1.99; Ptrend<0.0001) compared to those consuming ≤1 serving/week.
• It was noted that this relationship was strongest for non-processed red meats (RR=1.57; 95% CI= 1.35-1.83 for ≥2 servings/day vs ≤1 servings/week; Ptrend<0.0001), especially among women had not reported infertility (pinteraction=0.0004).
• In addition, women in the highest category of processed red meat intake had a higher risk of endometriosis (RR=1.20; 95% CI=1.06-1.37 for ≥5 servings/week vs <1 serving/month; Ptrend=0.02).
• Data reported that intakes of poultry, fish, shellfish, and eggs were not related to endometriosis risk.