Yale investigators, in collaboration with other institutions, conducted a new study published in JAMA Psychiatry to investigate how traumatic experiences and adverse events are differentially associated with endometriosis.
A growing number of studies are highlighting the systemic nature of endometriosis where its pathogenetic mechanisms affect biological systems outside the reproductive organs. In this context, the pervasive impact of traumatic events on human health may influence endometriosis pathogenesis. While few studies reported associations between traumatic events and endometriosis, limited information is available about differences among trauma types and which are the biological mechanisms underlying these relationships.
Leveraging genetic and observational data generated from more than 30,000 endometriosis cases and 500,000 female controls, Yale investigators highlighted how contact and emotional traumas are linked to endometriosis and how there is also a consistent genetic overlap between endometriosis and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“The interplay between trauma and endometriosis highlights the importance of assessing both the physical and mental health of affected patients to provide more comprehensive and effective treatments,” said Dora Koller, PhD, first author of the study, who is a former postdoctoral fellow and currently a research affiliate in the laboratory of Renato Polimanti, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry. Polimanti is the study's senior author.
Integrating genetic information with observational data, the investigators also showed how genetic risk and traumatic experiences—particularly contact traumas—are independently associated with endometriosis. This suggests that these risk factors contribute to the disease through independent pathogenetic processes.
“Mental health appears to play an important role in the systemic nature of endometriosis. Our efforts to dissect the impact of traumatic events uncovered insights that open new directions in understanding how psychiatric risk factors can lead to negative clinical outcomes in women,” commented Polimanti.
The Yale researchers were funded by the National Institutes of Health and One Mind.