17-05-2025
This Condition May Raise Your Risk of Autoimmune Disease
If you're one of the more than 6.5 million women in the US who struggles with endometriosis (or have a loved one who does), you'll know it can result in excruciating period pain and heavy bleeding. But the disease is also now linked to a higher-than-usual risk of developing certain autoimmune disorders, according to recent research.
And while this news may make it feel like the whole world is against you—or, at least, your uterus—researchers stress that knowing your risk early and taking action can go a long way toward helping to keep you healthy in the long run.
Here's what the study found, plus what could be behind the link, according to an expert.
Meet the expert: Christine Greves, MD, is an ob-gyn at the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies in Orlando, Florida.
The study, which was published in the journal Human Reproduction, analyzed data from more than 8,000 cases of endometriosis in the UK Biobank, a large biomedical database. The researchers also looked at 64,000 cases of autoimmune diseases to see if there was a link between having endometriosis and over 31 different autoimmune conditions—and as it turns out, there was.
The researchers discovered that people with endometriosis were anywhere from 30 to 80 percent more likely to develop an autoimmune condition compared to those who didn't have endometriosis. (The exact increased risk profile depended on the specific autoimmune condition being observed.)
Endometriosis is technically a disease, and it occurs when uterine tissue grows outside of the uterus, according to the U.S. Office on Women's Health (OASH).
More than 11 percent of American women between the ages of 15 and 44 are estimated to have endometriosis, but it can be hard to officially confirm the disease's presence since that often requires an invasive surgery to test tissue growth. The condition can cause very intense pain during periods, pain during or after sex, bleeding or spotting between periods, and infertility, per OASH.
This study flagged a few autoimmune diseases that were specifically linked to endometriosis:
Rheumatoid arthritis
Multiple sclerosis
Celiac disease
Osteoarthritis
Psoriasis
The short answer? Experts still don't know. While this isn't the first study to find a link between endometriosis and certain autoimmune diseases, it's not clear if having endometriosis causes people to develop the other conditions or if there's a random association that can be explained by something else, says Christine Greves, MD, an ob-gyn at the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies in Orlando, Florida.
However, the findings aren't shocking to her. 'I definitely see patients with endometriosis and autoimmune diseases,' she says.
As for why this may happen, some scientists have noted that immune system changes that occur as a result of endometriosis are similar to those seen with autoimmune diseases. So, the two may interact in a similar way in the body.
People with endometriosis also tend to deal with inflammation and a higher risk of immune system complications, including chronic infections and long COVID. As a result, there may be some immune system link here—we just don't know what it is, Dr. Greves says.
Since no one knows why some people develop autoimmune diseases and others don't, it's hard to give a solid answer. However, Dr. Greves says that doing your best to live a healthy lifestyle and checking in on a regular basis with your primary care physician may help.
'If you do develop an autoimmune disease and you catch it early enough, you may be able to manage the symptoms from the beginning—and that may help with your long-term health status,' Dr. Greves says.
Basically, do your best to take care of you—and don't be afraid to speak up if something feels off.
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