Association between early menarche and endometriosis risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background Early menarche is reported with the risk of endometriosis (EMS) with varying conclusions. Objective To assess the association between menarche age and EMS risk. Search strategy PubMed, Medline and Embase were searched using "endometriosis", "early menarche" , "EMS", "menarche age", and "early menstrual characteristics". Selection criteria Articles that reported the EMS risk in early menarche from Jan 2000 to May 2020 were included. Studies without control group, and lack of data of menarche age were excluded. Data collection and analysis EMS risks in these articles were collected and analysed through in random effects meta-analysis. In addition, subgroup analyses and meta-regressionwere were also performed. Main