Fatigue and quality of life in women with endometriosis: a case control study

Abstract

Introducción: Endometriosis is a common gynecological disorder affecting women of reproductive age, which is characterized by the ectopic proliferation of endometrial-like tissue outside the uterine cavity with both genetic and environmental factors associated with its development. Metodología Twenty-five affected women and twenty-five age and height-matched women without endometriosis were included. Endometriosis-related fatigue was assessed through the Piper Fatigue Scale (PFS), while quality of life was assessed using the the 12-item Short Form Health Survey, respectively. We used the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS Statistic for Windows, Armonk, NY, USA version 23.0) with a 5% level of significance. Given the limited sample size (N ≤ 50) and the non-normal distribution of variables (tested with the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test), the Mann–Whitney U and Chi-square tests were used to examine differences between groups. Resultados The Mann–Whitney U test results revealed that total PFS score as well as the scoring of all of PFS dimensions were significantly higher in endometriosis women than in controls (p-values < 0.001), with a median total fatigue score of 5.3 ± 2.3 in the ENDO group and 2.9 ± 2.0 in the control group. Finally, the Mann–Whitney U test results revealed that the quality of life was significantly different between groups. In this respect, the ENDO group exhibited lower scores in the physical health domain, indicating a worse quality of life (p-value < 0.001) in comparison with the control group. Notwithstanding, no significant differences between groups in the mental health domain were found. Therefore, affected women exhibited higher levels of endometriosis-related fatigue than controls (p-values < 0.050). Moreover, cases also had poorer perceived quality of life (p-value < 0.050). Discusión - Conclusión: This study constitutes the first evidence that women with endometriosis describe higher levels of endometriosis-related fatigue as well as higher deconditioning in their quality of life, which impact in their daily living. Further studies assessing the efficacy of rehabilitation interventions to face these physical impairments in women with endometriosis are warranted, which would also have an impact not only in this variables but also in others related to this illness.