THE PREVALENCE OF SPONTANEOUS ENDOMETRIOSIS IN THE BABOON (PAPIO-ANUBIS, PAPIO-CYNOCEPHALUS) INCREASES WITH THE DURATION OF CAPTIVITY

Background. It is nor known whether stress affects the prevalence of e ndometriosis in women. Baboons with spontaneous endometriosis may be i nteresting models to study the human disease. For baboons. living in c aptivity is a period of chronic stress without continuous exposure to pregnancy This study was done to compare the prevalence of endometrios is between baboons recently captured in the wild and those living in c aptivity for several years. Methods. A diagnostic laparoscopy was perf ormed for screening endometriosis and obtaining biopsies in 104 female baboons including animals that had been captured in the wild less tha n 1 year ago (n=52, Group I), primates that had been living in captivi ty for one to two years (n=30. Group II) and animals that had been cap tured for more than two years (n=22, Group III). Results. The prevalen ce of clinical and biopsy-proven endometriosis in all baboons was 17% and 12%, respectively. Clinical endometriosis was found more frequentl y in group III (32%) than in group II (17%) or group I (11%). The prev alence of biopsy-proven endometriosis was also significantly higher in group III (27%) than in groups I and II combined (8%, p=0.03). Conclu sions. The results indicate that the prevalence of endometriosis incre ases with the time spent in captivity This trend may be explained by m ore menstrual cycles uninterrupted by pregnancy in captive than in wil d baboons. and possibly also by age-related factors or by captivity-as sociated stress.