Endometriosis is a puzzling disease affecting an estimated five million women in the United States.
Endometriosis affects all races, personalities, and socioeconomic groups as well as all ages of women, from girls as young as 10 or 11 to women in their 60's and 70's. 2 Endometriosis now affects an estimated 5 million women in the United States. But before 1921 there were only 20 reports on this disease in the world literature.3 The Endometriosis Association has been systematically studying all aspects of the health and experience of women with endometriosis, listening to the stories of hundreds of thousands of women with the disease, and publishing reports based on our studies in medical journals. The type of endometriosis that I am describing is the most severe form of the disease, tends to occur in families with endometriosis and a host of related health problems, and tends to cause numerous health, work, financial, marital and social problems. 12 Endometriosis is a disease of menstruating animals, and primate studies are critical to our understanding of the disease.