Comparison between those who did and did not develop pain during
pregnancy
To assess the impact of pain during pregnancy on perinatal outcomes, we
compared the maternal backgrounds and pregnancy outcomes between those
who did and did not develop pain at the adenomyosis site among 91
pregnancies with adenomyosis, as shown in Table 2. There was no
difference in the maternal backgrounds, but those who experienced pain
during pregnancy had a significantly higher incidence of PE (41.7% vs.
13.9%; p <0.05). The cesarean section and preterm
delivery rates were also significantly higher in those with pain (91.7%
vs. 51.9%; p <0.05, and 66.7% vs. 31.7%;p <0.05, respectively), but the rate of spontaneous
preterm delivery was not significantly higher in women who experienced
pain than that in those who did not (25.0% vs. 11.9%; p =0.19).
To assess whether the extent of inflammation was associated with the
onset of PE, we compared the maximum CRP level, which was measured
before the onset of PE, among the 12 pregnancies who developed pain
during pregnancy. The median maximum CRP level was significantly higher
in patients with PE than that in those without PE (5.45 vs. 0.12 mg/dL,p <0.05) (Fig. 2). Among the 5 cases who developed PE,
the maximum CRP level preceded the onset of PE as early as 6 days and as
late as 47 days, with the median time from the maximum CRP level to the
onset of PE being 15 days (IQR: 9-45 days).