Study on epidemiology of endometriosis in North East India

Background: Endometriosis is the presence of endometrial glands and/or stroma outside the uterus, predominantly in   reproductive age. The prevalence is around 10% in women of reproductive age and is caused by combination of multiple genetic and environmental factors. Characterization of endometriosis can be learnt from epidemiological factors of the patients which influence on disease development and thus helpful in clinical diagnosis. Histological pictures after surgery may vary considerably and sometimes over diagnosis of the disease is not uncommon. The purpose of the study was to study the epidemiology of endometriosis in North East population of India and correlation of clinical and histopathological diagnosis. Methods: It was a hospital based observational descriptive study carried out in Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, AMCH, Dibrugarh, Assam, India.  Detailed history and clinical presentations were elicited and relevant investigations were done. Operative findings and biopsy reports were correlated. All the findings were tabulated and statistically analyzed. Results: Women in age group 30-39 years (48.31%) with mean BMI of 24.44±4.06 kg/m2, nulliparous (31.46%) or para 1(33.71%) formed the majority of study population. Majority had early age at menarche (11.45±1.24), irregular cycles, shorter cycle length, longer duration of flow. Majority (79.78%) had dysmenorrhea followed by dyspareunia (59.55%). Only 62.92% had biopsy proven endometriosis. Conclusions: Epidemiological factors and clinical presentations guide in diagnosing endometriosis and should be given importance. Clinical diagnosis of endometriosis may not always correlate with histopathologic diagnosis and many other pathologies mimic endometriosis