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Profile of endometriosis in the aging female rhesus monkey
C L Coe1, A M Lemieux, S E Rier
1Harlow Center for Biological Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53715, USA. ccoe@facstaff.wisc.edu
Background:
A retrospective analysis was conducted on necropsy records from a large rhesus monkey colony to evaluate the age-related prevalence of endometriosis.
Methods:
A total of 314 records collected over a 15-year period were analyzed, yielding 66 monkeys with histologically verified endometriosis and 248 control subjects.
Results:
The analyses demonstrated that the incidence of endometriosis increases progressively across the life span, ultimately impacting 21-45% of aged monkeys over 20 years of age.
Conclusions:
Because mild disease is often not diagnosed premortem, the endocrine and immune sequelae of endometriosis may be a potential confound in even nonreproductive research with aging primates. Prior research-related events influence the occurrence and severity of endometriosis in these long-lived animals, and specifically could have contributed to the high prevalence of endometriosis in this particular monkey colony.