A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY ON THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN RED HAIR COLOR AND ENDOMETRIOSIS IN INFERTILE PATIENTS

Objective: To determine if red-haired infertile women have an increase d prevalence of endometriosis. Design: Prospective, nonblinded. Settin g: Large, metropolitan, private hospital, associated with a university . Subspeciality care provided by reproductive endocrinologists. Patien ts: One hundred forty-three consecutive women undergoing laparoscopy o r laparotomy for infertility. Interventions: Laser ablation of any end ometriosis present. Main Outcome Measure: Presence of endometriosis. R esults: Of 143 women entered into the study, 12 had natural red hair. The ages of these women ranged between 23 and 41 years. Ten of 12 (83% ) of the red-haired women were found to have endometriosis compared wi th 55 of 131 (42%) of nonredheads. By statistical analysis, the 95% co nfidence intervals for the presence of endometriosis in redheads was 5 5% to 100% versus 34% to 51% for nonredheads. Conclusion: The results suggest an association between the occurrence of natural red hair and those factors that lead to the development of endometriosis.