Pain in the lower abdomen, irregular periods, pain during sexual intercourse, infertility: if we know the symptoms of endometriosis, we have, on the other hand, much less knowledge about the causes of this gynecological disease which affects about one in 10 women between the ages of 20 and 40. Endometriosis is characterized by deposits of uterine lining outside the uterus. This mucous membrane begins to bleed during menstruation, but since this bleeding cannot be evacuated naturally, it causes lesions and painful cysts.
American researchers working on the origins of endometriosis, conducted a study among a group of 248 women diagnosed with endometriosis and 538 women without the disease. In particular, they took a blood test, looking for traces of organochlorine compounds (that is to say compounds used in pesticides, insecticides or solvents).
“Our research showed that women who had the strongest traces of two of these products in their blood (Mirex and beta HCH) had an increased risk of suffering from endometriosis,” explains Dr Kristen Upson, who led this study. study. “These pesticides have been banned for several decades, but there are still traces of them in the soil and in the water. This proves that their polluting and toxic power is persistent and that it can still affect women of the current generation of childbearing age ”. Women with the highest level of Mirex in the blood had a 50% increased risk of suffering from endometriosis and those with a high level of beta HCH had a 30 to 70% increased risk of developing the disease.
