Understanding Adenomyosis: a Case Control Study

Objective: To elucidate the clinical profile of adenomyosis by comparison with uterine leiomyomas.

Design: Retrospective case-control study.

Setting: Academic medical center.

Patient(s): The study comprised 76 women undergoing hysterectomy with adenomyosis and 152 women with uterine leiomyomas but no adenomyosis.

Intervention(s): Retrospective medical record review of hospital and ambulatory records.

Main Outcome Measure(s): Comparison of women undergoing hysterectomy with a sole pathologic finding of adenomyosis and women with leiomyomas alone.

Result(s): Adenomyosis was independently associated with younger age (41.1 years vs. 44.3 years), history of depression (57.1% vs. 24.7%), dysmenorrhea (65.7% vs. 42.3%), and pelvic pain (52.9% vs. 21.1%) in a multivariable unconditional logistic regression analysis compared with women with leiomyomas, where women from both groups had gynecologic symptoms. Furthermore, in a second multivariate model where all subjects had uteri weighing>150 g, women with adenomyosis were more likely to have a history of depression (52.6% vs. 22.2%) and endometriosis (26.3% vs. 2.8%) compared with women with leiomyomas.

Conclusion(s): Women undergoing hysterectomy with a histologic diagnosis of adenomyosis have a distinct symptomatology and medical history compared with women with leiomyomas. Better understanding of this disease is required to improve diagnosis and management.