Associations between biological aging and the risk of endometriosis: Evidence from a large population-based...

Endometriosis is a common disease for women of reproductive ages. Individuals with accelerated biological aging are at a higher risk of developing various diseases, however, the effect of biological aging on the risk of endometriosis remains unclear. We aimed to explore the associations between biological aging and the risk of endometriosis.

46,371 women from the UK Biobank who had no endometriosis diagnosis at baseline was involved in our study. We used Phenotypic age (PhenoAge) as a measure of biological aging. PhenoAge biological aging acceleration (PhenoAge_baa) was defined as the residual from the regression of PhenoAge on the basis of chronological age. Cox regression models and restricted cubic spline models with three knots were applied to assess the associations between biological aging and the risk of endometriosis. We also conducted subgroup analyses and assessed the combined effects of BMI and biological aging on endometriosis.

During a median follow-up of 12.5 years, 635 incident endometriosis were identified. After adjusting for potential factors, women with a status of accelerated aging were found to have a 35 % higher risk of developing endometriosis compared to those without accelerated aging. We also observed a joint effect of high BMI and accelerated biological aging on the incidence of endometriosis and no significant interactions were observed in our subgroup analyses.

Our findings suggest that associations between accelerated biological aging and endometriosis that warrant further investigation.