In This Story
Endometriosis affects approximately 11% of people with a uterus, and they may be at increased risk of heart disease due to higher cardiovascular inflammation levels and hypertension. Since heart disease is the leading cause of death for U.S. women, there is a critical need to study the life course impact of endometriosis on cardiovascular disease.
Associate Professor Anna Pollack, with Assistant Professor Jenna Krall, are co-investigators on a five-year, $3 million, R01 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which is a branch of the National Institutes of Health. The study aims to better understand and ultimately reduce the risk of heart disease for women with endometriosis. Karen Schliep at the University of Utah School of Medicine and Leslie Farland at the University of Arizona Zuckerman College of Public Health are the principal investigators on this project, Endometriosis Diagnosis and Subtypes, Reproductive History, and Cardiovascular Disease.
“Our overall goal is to improve the health of patients with endometriosis across the lifespan. This project has direct clinical implications and we expect that it will improve cardiovascular disease risk for women by evaluating an inflammatory reproductive disorder, endometriosis, which affects over 11% of women,” said Pollack.
Researchers will investigate women with and without endometriosis and their risk for cardiovascular disease. Pollack and Krall, along with a PhD in Public Health student, will be focusing on the study design, developing questionnaires and other study tools, and analyzing the data.