Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Nov 25;13(12):1646.
doi: 10.3390/jpm13121646.

Does Sexual Function and Quality of Life Improve after Medical Therapy in Women with Endometriosis? A Single-Institution Retrospective Analysis

Anna Biasioli  1 , Silvia Zermano  1 , Francesca Previtera  2 , Martina Arcieri  1 , Monica Della Martina  1 , Diego Raimondo  3 , Antonio Raffone  3 , Stefano Restaino  1 , Giuseppe Vizzielli  1   2 , Lorenza Driul  1   2
Affiliations

Does Sexual Function and Quality of Life Improve after Medical Therapy in Women with Endometriosis? A Single-Institution Retrospective Analysis

Anna Biasioli et al. J Pers Med. .

Abstract

Background: Endometriosis is a gynecological condition affecting up to 10% of women of reproductive age and characterized by chronic pain. Pain is the major cause of the impairment of quality of life in all aspects of these patients. Previous studies have shown that endometriosis treatment, hormonal or surgical, has proven effective not only in controlling the disease but also in improving symptoms, and we can assume also effective in improving quality of life.

Methods: This study evaluates quality of life and sexual function in patients with endometriosis at the time of diagnosis and after 6 months of medical therapy, to assess the impact of treatment on these aspects. We evaluated retrospectively patients with a diagnosis of endometriosis between 2018 and 2020. All patients underwent gynecological examination and transvaginal ultrasound and filled in three questionnaires. The same evaluation was provided after taking medical hormonal therapy.

Results: The improvement of dysmenorrhea, chronic pelvic pain, and dyspareunia after medical treatment were statistically significant. Instead, items concerning arousal, lubrication, and sexual satisfaction showed a statistically significant worsening after therapy.

Conclusions: We can state that hormone therapy alone is not sufficient to achieve an improvement in the patient's quality of life and sexual function. Emerging evidence suggests that most of these patients showed a central sensibilization phenomenon characterized by an amplification of the response to a peripheral and/or neuropathic nociceptive trigger, which is expressed by hyperalgesia and allodynia. For this reason, in these patients, it is better to adopt a multimodal and multidisciplinary approach, including other professional figures, that acts on pain and also intervenes in all those conditions that contribute to worsening quality of life.

Keywords: central sensibilization phenomena; chronic pain; endometriosis; medical therapy; multidisciplinary approach; quality of life.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Patients’ hormonal therapy.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Dysmenorrhea before and after treatment.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Chronic pelvic pain before and after treatment.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Dyspareunia before and after treatment.
Figure 5
Figure 5
FSFI score before and after treatment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Holland T.K., Cutner A., Saridogan E., Mavrelos D., Pateman K., Jurkovic D. Ultrasound mapping of pelvic endometriosis: Does the location and number of lesions affect the diagnostic accuracy? A multicentre diagnostic accuracy study. BMC Womens Health. 2013;13:43. doi: 10.1186/1472-6874-13-43. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zondervan K.T., Becker C.M., Missmer S.A. Endometriosis. N. Engl. J. Med. 2020;382:1244–1256. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra1810764. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Symons L.K., Miller J.E., Kay V.R. The immunopathophysiology of endometriosis. Trends Mol. Med. 2018;24:748–762. doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2018.07.004. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gruber T.M., Mechsner S. Pathogenesis of Endometriosis: The Origin of Pain and Subfertility. Cells. 2021;10:1381. doi: 10.3390/cells10061381. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nnoaham K.E., Hummelshoj L., Kennedy S.H., Jenkinson C., Zondervan K.T. Developing symptom-based predictive models of endometriosis as a clinical screening tool: Results from a multicenter study. Fertil. Steril. 2012;98:692–701.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2012.04.022. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources