United States: According to a new study, traumatic childhood experiences can predispose a woman to endometriosis in adulthood.
Researchers reported on June 11 in the journal Human Reproduction that women who had childhood miseries like violence, sexual abuse, a death in the family, poverty, or disturbed parents were 20 percent more likely to develop endometriosis.
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According to the lead researcher, Marika Rostvall, a physician and doctoral student at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, “We also saw that the more adverse experiences in childhood, the higher the risk,” US News reported.
“Among those who had five or more factors, the risk increased to 60%,” Rostvall noted.
Violence yielded the greatest association, with more than a twofold increase in the likelihood that a woman would have endometriosis, according to results.
In endometriosis, researchers said in background notes, “tissue that is like the lining of the uterus grows outside of the uterus and attaches to the lining of the abdomen, ovaries, and other organs.”
How much do you want to bet that this is going to be used to gaslight women with endometriosis and tell them it’s all in their head? https://t.co/KTUWcQyS0v
— Bev Schechtman🇮🇱 (@ibdgirl76) June 13, 2025
During menstruation, these lesions bleed and result in pain, inflammation as well as bands of scar tissue (adhesions) between organs, researchers said.
Endometriosis occurs quite often in 1 out of 10 women, yet its etiology is not completely clear, scientists said.
In this study, over 1.3 million women who were born in Sweden between the years 1974 and 2001 were followed up with regard to their health status, where over 24,000 of this population developed endometriosis.
These health records were joined by the research team with other national registers in order to trace the traumas experienced by this group of women in their childhood, as US News reported.
“The results suggest that early life experiences can affect the body’s health much later in life and highlight the importance of looking at the whole person, not just the symptoms,” as Rostvall noted.
“The findings are also in line with previous research showing that difficulties in childhood have profound consequences for future health,” the expert added.