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. 2017 Aug;296(2):153-165.
doi: 10.1007/s00404-017-4406-9. Epub 2017 May 25.

Patient-completed or symptom-based screening tools for endometriosis: a scoping review

Eric Surrey  1 , Cathryn M Carter  2 , Ahmed M Soliman  3 , Shahnaz Khan  4 , Dana B DiBenedetti  4 , Michael C Snabes  3
Affiliations

Patient-completed or symptom-based screening tools for endometriosis: a scoping review

Eric Surrey et al. Arch Gynecol Obstet. 2017 Aug.

Abstract

Purpose: The objective of this review was to evaluate existing patient-completed screening questionnaires and/or symptom-based predictive models with respect to their potential for use as screening tools for endometriosis in adult women. Validated instruments were of particular interest.

Methods: We conducted structured searches of PubMed and targeted searches of the gray literature to identify studies reporting on screening instruments used in endometriosis. Studies were screened according to inclusion and exclusion criteria that followed the PICOS (population, intervention, comparison, outcomes, study design) framework.

Results: A total of 16 studies were identified, of which 10 described measures for endometriosis in general, 2 described measures for endometriosis at specific sites, and 4 described measures for deep-infiltrating endometriosis. Only 1 study evaluated a questionnaire that was solely patient-completed. Most measures required physician, imaging, or laboratory assessments in addition to patient-completed questionnaires, and several measures relied on complex scoring. Validation for use as a screening tool in adult women with potential endometriosis was lacking in all studies, as most studies focused on diagnosis versus screening.

Conclusions: This literature review did not identify any fully validated, symptom-based, patient-reported questionnaires for endometriosis screening in adult women.

Keywords: Endometriosis; Patient-reported; Screener; Self-administered; Symptoms.

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Conflict of interest statement

Funding

This study was funded by AbbVie, Inc.

Conflict of interest

This research was performed under a contract between AbbVie and RTI Health Solutions. Cathryn Carter, Shahnaz Khan, and Dana B. DiBenedetti are employees of RTI Health Solutions, funded by AbbVie to conduct this project and develop the manuscript. Ahmed M. Soliman and Michael C. Snabes are employees of AbbVie and may own AbbVie stocks/stock options. Eric Surrey has acted as a consultant and served on medical advisory boards as well as on the speakers’ bureau for AbbVie.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Literature search results. ACOG, American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; ASRM, American Society for Reproductive Medicine; JEPPD/J Endo, Journal of Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Disorders; SRI, Society for Reproductive Investigation; WCE, World Congress of Endometriosis
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