Clinical-anamnestic features and life quality of patients with nodular and diffuse adenomyosis

Abstract

Introduction. Adenomyosis remains one of the significant challenges in modern gynecology and affects a large number of women of reproductive age. The clinical presentation of adenomyosis is variable, with severity of symptoms depending on the form of the disease. In case of the occurrence of severe pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea and dyspareunia, the disease disrupts social functions and leads to a decrease in the patient’s quality of life.Aim. To study clinical and anamnestic features and patient’s quality of life with diffuse and nodular forms of adenomyosis.Materials and methods. The study included 126 patients with various forms of adenomyosis (45 patients with nodular adenomyosis (NAM), 81 with stage III – IV DAM). The control group included 20 patients with tubo-peritoneal factor of infertility, without adenomyosis based on the ultrasound and hysteroscopy findings. All patients underwent a comprehensive examination, including general clinical, instrumental and laboratory tests. The study included a comparative analysis of the obtained data and determination of the clinical and anamnestic characteristics of the patients with stage III – IV DAM as compared with the patients with NAM. We also studied the quality of life of patients with NAM and DAM on the basis of a specialized questionnaire on the study of the quality of life of patients with endometriosis – Endometriosis Health Profile, ENR-5+6. Statistical analysis and data processing were conducted using Microsoft Excel (version 16), Statistica 10.0, StatPlus 7.3, GraphPad Prism 9 software. Data processing was performed in accordance with the guidelines for medical and biological research.Results and discussion. As compared with patients with nodular adenomyosis, the patients with stage III-IV diffuse adenomyosis are characterized by an older age (42.1 (4.6) and 34.6 (6.2) years, respectively; p <0.001), have a high prevalence of somatic (96 and 77%, respectively; p < 0.05) and gynecological pathology (79 and 51%, respectively; p < 0.001) in past medical history, a higher frequency of intrauterine manipulations (hysteroscopy, separate diagnostic curettage) (73 and 42%, respectively; p < 0.001) and medical abortions (52 and 28%, respectively, p < 0.001). Complaints of heavy menstruation, bloody vaginal discharge between periods, and intestinal symptoms had a special place among the complaints of such patients. Moderate to severe anemia, as a consequence of heavy menstrual bleeding, was also a frequent concomitant pathology.Conclusions. Stage III-IV DAM is characterized by a more severe course and marked symptoms as compared with NAM, and significantly affects the patient’s quality of life.