Endometriosis III and IV as a risk factor for tubal obstruction in infertile women

OBJECTIVE: A previous study carried out among infertile women with tubal obstruction identified a relative risk of 2.5 for Chlamydia trachomatis seropositivity. However, endometriosis may also be associated with increased risk. This study aimed to evaluate the risk of tubal obstruction associated with endometriosis III/IV among women submitted to assisted reproductive procedures. METHODS: A case-control study was performed among 144 women with and without tubal obstruction. We calculated the odds ratio with 95% CI regarding the association of endometriosis III/IV and tubal obstruction. Calculations were performed using the SPSS v.17.0 package. RESULTS: The mean age was 33.7 years (4.76 SD), and the mean infertility duration time was 66.7 months (120.6 SD). The total prevalence of endometriosis was 20/144 (13%). Among 144 women, the risk group with tubal obstruction and endometriosis III/IV comprised 7out of 20 (35%), compared with the group without such risk, that comprised 22 out of 124 (17%). The X(2) test was 3.19 with a p-value of 0.07. The odds ratio (OR) was 2.5 (95% CI: 0.647-9.639). CONCLUSION: Although the OR was 2.5, there was no significant difference between the groups with and without endometriosis III/IV. Further studies are needed to increase the sample size.