No Link Found Between Vitamin D and Endometriosis

Vitamin D was previously thought to play a part in the progression of endometriosis, but a recent study has provided contrary evidence.

Key Points

Highlights:

• The researchers wish to elucidate the relationship between Vitamin D and endometriosis development.
• They analyzed this relationship by looking at 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] serum levels in participants with and without endometriosis.

Importance:

•  Endometriosis is a multifactorial disease including the dysfunction of the immune system which may be responsible for a state of chronic inflammation.
• The immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory and antiproliferative properties of vitamin D may act the basis for a possible function of this prohormone in the pathogenesis of endometriosis.

What’s done here?

• The 217 case participants included women with surgical or non-surgical diagnoses of endometriosis. These participants were further categorized into two groups: deep invasive endometriosis (90) and ovarian endometriomas (127). The 217 control participants were women who did not have a clinical or surgical diagnosis of endometriosis.
• All participants provided blood samples, and chemiluminescence technology was used to detect 25(OH)D levels. There were three experiments that made up the overall assessment.
• The participants were also asked to fill out a questionnaire that analyzed their sun exposure, phenotypic characteristics, and skin phototype.

Key results:

• The mean 25(OH)D levels were:
  • 17.9 ng/mL for women with endometriosis [18.7 ng/mL for women with deep endometriosis; 17.3 ng/mL for women with ovarian endometrioma]
  • 18.4 ng/mL for women without endometriosis
• When the endometriosis sub-groups were compared with their paired controls, there were no significant differences.
• Overall, there appears to be no link between serum Vitamin D levels and endometriosis.

Limitations of the study:

• The researchers list the lack of a food questionnaire as a potential limitation.
• The researchers also worry that they may have inadvertently allowed some cases to be classified as controls.

Lay Summary

Buggio et al., a group of scientists from the Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Universita` degli Studi in Milan, recently published a paper in the Reproductive Sciences titled “25-Hydroxyvitamin D Serum Levels and Endometriosis: Results of a Case-Control Study.” The publication sought to analyze vitamin D levels in women with and without endometriosis because it was previously thought that this prohormone may help endometriosis disease progression.

As endometriosis is a multifactorial disease and the dysfunction of the immune system which may be responsible for a state of chronic inflammation, it may be possible that the immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory and antiproliferative properties of prohormone vitamin D may act the basis for a possible function in the pathogenesis of endometriosis.

The study consists of two groups of participants: the cases and the controls. There were 217 women with diagnosed endometriosis in the case group. The endometriosis group was further broken down into women with deep invasive endometriosis (90) and women with ovarian endometriomas (127). There were 217 women without endometriosis in the control group. All participants provided a blood sample that was subject to Chemiluminescence technology. This kit helped researchers ascertain 25(OH)D levels. The participants were also asked to fill out a questionnaire that evaluated their sun exposure habits, skin phototype, and phenotypes.

The results show the mean 25(OH)D levels were 17.9 ng/mL for women with endometriosis and 18.4 ng/mL for women without endometriosis.

The subgroups of endometriosis were also found to have no significant differences when compared to their paired controls.

In conclusion, this study found no significant relationship between vitamin D levels and endometriosis. Thus, it is possible that vitamin D does not, in fact, play a role in endometriosis disease progression.

Research Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29587615