Endometriosis and skin cancer: Is there a link?

Results of a new prospective cohort study add to existing literature on the association between endometriosis and skin cancer and show that the connection is strongest for melanoma. The findings, published in Cancer Causes and Control, are by researchers from the United States and France.

The object of the research was to prospectively investigate the relationships between endometriosis and risk of non-melanoma and melanoma skin cancers. The cohort was 98,995 French women who were aged 40 to 65 in 1990. Every 2 to 3 years, the investigators used self-reports to collect data from the women on surgically confirmed endometriosis and skin cancer diagnoses, with the latter confirmed through pathology reports.

Using Cox regression models for calculation, the authors found that endometriosis was associated with an increased overall risk of skin cancer (hazard ratio [HR] 1.28, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.05-1.55). Endometriosis was associated with risk of melanoma (HR 1.64, 95% CI 1.15-2.35) but not of squamous cell carcinoma (HR 1.21, 95% CI 0.62-2.36) or of basal cell carcinoma (HR 1.16, 95% CI 0.91-1.48). No heterogeneity was detected across skin cancer types (Phomogeneity = 0.13).