Quality of Life Assessment by the Endometriosis Health Profile (EHP-30) Questionnaire Prior to Treatment for Ovarian Endometriosis in Brazilian Women.

André Vinícius De Assis Florentino,João Alfredo Martins,Ana Maria Gomes Pereira,Raquel Martins Arruda,Reginaldo Guedes Coelho Lopes

doi:10.1055/s-0039-1693057

Abstract

To evaluate the existence of an association between ultrasound findings and epidemiological and clinical factors using results obtained from the EHP-30 questionnaire in women with ovarian endometriosis. A cross-sectional observational study was performed between July 2012 and May 2015, in which patients with chronic pelvic pain suggestive of endometrioma, as indicated by the results from a transvaginal pelvic ultrasonography, completed the standardized Endometriosis Health Profile - 30 (EHP-30) questionnaire to access quality-of-life scores before beginning treatment for endometriosis. A total of 65 patients were included. The data was analyzed in the statistical program IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 22.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) for the comparison of data through linear multiple regression. The suitability of the linear regression model was confirmed by the histogram of the dependent variable and the residue distribution plot, confirming the trend of linearity as well as the homogeneous dispersion of the residues. The mean age of the patients was 39.7 ± 7.1 years old. The majority was Caucasian (64.5%), had completed higher education (56.5%) and was nulligravida (40.3%). Infertility was present in 48.4% of the patients studied. Out of the total sample, 80.6% of the cases were symptomatic and complained mainly of acyclic pain, 79% of dysmenorrhea, and 61.3% of dyspareunia. This reflects the negative influence of endometriosis on the quality of life of patients with this disease. Dyspareunia and acyclic pain were independent factors of correlation with high scores in the EHP-30 questionnaire, reflecting a worse quality of life.

Highlights

Endometriosis is a chronic disease that is defined as the presence of endometrium-like tissue outside the uterine cavity that affects young, sexually active women of childbearing age.[1]The most commonly reported complaint by patients is pain that can be expressed in a variety of symptoms, including dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia, chronic pelvic pain, and infertility
Palavras-chave ► endometriose ► endometrioma ► dismenorreia ► dor pélvica ► qualidade de vida
The present study aimed to evaluate the existence of an association between ultrasound findings and epidemiological and clinical factors using results obtained from the Endometriosis Health Profile - 30 (EHP-30) questionnaire in women with ovarian endometriosis

Summary

Introduction

The most commonly reported complaint by patients is pain that can be expressed in a variety of symptoms, including dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia, chronic pelvic pain, and infertility. These symptoms affect social, emotional and physical well-being. The quality of life and relationships of the patients are significantly affected by the presence of dyspareunia.[2,3,4,5]. According to the main international guidelines, endometriosis should be seen as a disease that requires an individualized planning for life, and repetitive surgical procedures should be avoided.[6] Its definitive diagnosis is surgical, and the gold standard is laparoscopy with confirmation through the anatomic-pathological study of the lesion. Suspicion and clinical diagnosis are starting points to reduce the delay between the onset of symptoms and the recognition of the disease,[7,8,9] since a delay of up to 9 years is reported prior to the definitive diagnosis.[10,11]

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Discussion

Conclusion