Wednesday, October 16, 2024
Home Diseases conditions and syndromes Endometriosis pain leads to missed school and work in two-thirds of women with the condition, new study finds

Endometriosis pain leads to missed school and work in two-thirds of women with the condition, new study finds

by Medical Xpress
0 comment


Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

More than two-thirds of women with endometriosis missed school or work due to pain from the condition, in a study of more than 17,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44 in the U.S. That is a key finding of new research published in the Journal of Endometriosis and Uterine Disorders.

Our study also found that Black and Hispanic women were less likely to be diagnosed with compared with white women. Interestingly, women who identified as part of the LGBTQ community had a higher likelihood of receiving an endometriosis diagnosis than heterosexual women.

We used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which is administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for the period 2011 to 2019. The survey data use adjusted weights to account for the racial composition of U.S. society, meaning our sample of 17,619 women represents 51,981,323 women of the U.S. population.

We specifically examined factors related to quality of life, such as poverty, education and functional impairment, as well as race and sexual orientation.

I am a physician-scientist and a researcher in women’s health, working together with specialists in OB-GYN from Yale and the University of Texas.

Why it matters

Endometriosis is a chronic, often painful condition that affects approximately 10% of reproductive-age women worldwide. It occurs when tissues that would normally line the inner surface of the uterus instead occur outside the uterus, such as on the ovaries or even in distant organs such as the lungs or brain. These abnormally located lesions respond to hormonal changes during the , causing pain when stimulated by the hormones that regulate the menstrual cycle.

Our study sheds light on how endometriosis, despite its prevalence, remains underdiagnosed and under researched. We found that 6.4% of reproductive-age women in the U.S. had an endometriosis diagnosis. More than 67% reported missed work or school, or having been unable to perform daily activities, due to pain associated with endometriosis.

Our study highlights disparities in the diagnosis and management of endometriosis among different racial groups. Black women had 63% lower odds of getting an endometriosis diagnosis, and Hispanic women had 55% lower odds compared with non-Hispanic . This disparity may reflect historical biases in health care, pointing to the need for more equitable practices.

In addition, our study underscores the importance of considering across diverse population subgroups, with particular attention to sexual orientation. We found that non-heterosexual lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer women had 54% higher odds of receiving an endometriosis diagnosis compared with straight women. Our study was the first to examine endometriosis likelihood among non-heterosexual women at the national level in the U.S.

We found no significant association between endometriosis and other quality-of-life indicators such as poverty, education or employment status, which suggests that the condition affects women across various socioeconomic backgrounds.






A common theory about the cause of endometriosis is that women have menstrual blood that seeds outside of the uterus, but recent research supports inflammatory causes.

What other research is being done

Our work adds to the growing body of evidence that Black women are less likely to be diagnosed with endometriosis and that their reported pain symptoms are often overlooked.

Explanations for this inequity include health care bias against minority women and limited access to medical care among Black women. Research also shows that many as well as medical students and residents believe that Black women have a lower pain threshold compared with the white population.

This is another possible reason that pain symptoms among Black women with endometriosis get neglected. Researchers from the U.K reported the same findings, attributing these disparities to systemic bias and inequitable medical care.

Another study estimates that the lifetime costs associated with having endometriosis are about US$27,855 per year per patient in the U.S., costing the country about $22 billion annually on health care expenditures.

Provided by
The Conversation


This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.The Conversation

Citation:
Endometriosis pain leads to missed school and work in two-thirds of women with the condition, new study finds (2024, September 16)
retrieved 16 September 2024
from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-09-endometriosis-pain-school-thirds-women.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.





Source link

You may also like

Leave a Comment

Edtior's Picks

Latest Articles

All Rights reserved, site designed by Yellohost.co.za