Endometriosis: a comparison of associated disease histories

We examined a subgroup of 43 women with endometriosis who reported family members affected by the disease. A matched group of female friend-controls (n = 43) was used for comparison, and reports of selected autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, and allergic manifestations were compared. For this subset of women, there appeared to be a strong familial tendency to allergic manifestations. Vaginal yeast infections, a history of mononucleosis, eczema, hayfever, and food sensitivities were reported to occur much more frequently for these women. All statistical tests on these conditions were significant at the .05 level of probability or less.