Age at surgery and recurrence of ovarian endometrioma after conservative surgery: a meta-analysis including 3125 patients

PURPOSE: To evaluate the association between age at surgery and recurrence rate of endometrioma. Data sources PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched up to October 2019. METHODS: We determined the pooled relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to assess the relationship between age at surgery and the recurrence rate of endometrioma after surgery. Begg’s funnel plot and Egger’s linear regression was used to assess any publication bias. RESULTS: A total of 3125 patients from 10 studies were finally enrolled in this meta-analysis. The recurrence rate decreased with increasing age (RR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.91–0.95, P = 0.451). Subgroup analysis demonstrated that the pooled RR was 0.926 (95% CI 0.906–0.947, P < 0.001) for a cut-off < 35, and 0.886 (95% CI 0.775–1.040, P = 0.14) for a cut-off ≥ 35. Begg’s funnel plot and Egger’s linear regression test showed no evidence of publication bias. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis suggested that younger age might be a high-risk factor for the recurrence of ovarian endometrioma after conservative surgery.