Menstrual characteristics, bleeding and other non-pelvic-pain symptoms in women presenting with severe endometriotic disease

Abstract

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to investigate the detailed nature of menstrual characteristics, bleeding and other symptoms in women with and without endometriosis. Pelvic pain symptoms in this cohort have been reported elsewhere. Method: This is a self-administered cross-sectional study and was conducted using a structural questionnaire. A total of 737 women completed the study: women with endometriosis (n = 529) and with no current gynaecological complaint, ‘control’ (n = 208). Results: Some of the key findings in this study included significant differences between the control and endometriosis subjects in terms of bleeding symptoms, increased length and heaviness of menses, rectal and bladder bleeding, infertility and obstetric complications which were all more common in the endometriosis group. Other symptoms found to have a highly significant positive association with endometriosis included abdominal bloating, low resistance to infection, fatigue, increased urinary frequency, diarrhoea and constipation (p < 0.000). Data were cross-tabulated to examine the association of a number of symptoms to each other. The relationship of symptoms to a range of psychosocial factors was investigated to determine how the effects of endometriosis impacted on the life of subjects. Most women reported that endometriosis sometimes or often interfered with daily aspects of their life. Conclusion: The range of non-pain symptoms in women with endometriosis was generally much more diverse and extensive than recognised by most clinicians.