Endometriosis Is Undervalued: A Call to Action

Endometriosis is an inflammatory chronic pain condition caused by uterine tissue growing outside of the uterus that afflicts at least 11% of women (and people assigned female at birth) worldwide. This condition results in a substantial burden to these women, and society at large. Although endometrio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in Global Women's Health Vol. 3; p. 902371
Main Authors: Ellis, Katherine, Munro, Deborah, Clarke, Jennifer
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media SA 10.05.2022
Frontiers Media S.A
Subjects:
Abdomen
chronic pain
Costs
Crohn's disease
Diabetes
Diarrhea
Endometriosis
Females
Fertility
Funding
Global Women's Health
Health care expenditures
Infertility
Inflammatory diseases
Irritable bowel syndrome
Medical diagnosis
Ovarian cancer
Pain
Patients
Physiology
Productivity
Quality of life
Sexual disorders
Uterus
women's health
Womens health
Australia
United States > US
endometriosis
chronic pain
funding
quality of life
women's health
ISSN:2673-5059, 2673-5059
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Endometriosis is an inflammatory chronic pain condition caused by uterine tissue growing outside of the uterus that afflicts at least 11% of women (and people assigned female at birth) worldwide. This condition results in a substantial burden to these women, and society at large. Although endometriosis was first identified over 160 years ago, substantial knowledge gaps remain, including confirmation of the disease's etiology. Research funding for endometriosis is limited, with funding from bodies like the National Institutes of Health (NIH) constituting only 0.038% of the 2022 health budget—for a condition that affects 6.5 million women in the US alone and over 190 million worldwide. A major issue is that diagnosis of endometriosis is frequently delayed because surgery is required to histologically confirm the diagnosis. This delay increases symptom intensity, the risk of central and peripheral sensitization and the costs of the disease for the patient and their nation. Current conservative treatments of presumed endometriosis are pain management and birth control. Both of these methods are flawed and can be entirely ineffective for the reduction of patient suffering or improving ability to work, and neither addresses the severe infertility issues or higher risk of certain cancers. Endometriosis research deserves the funding and attention that befits a disease with its substantial prevalence, effects, and economic costs. This funding could improve patient outcomes by introducing less invasive and more timely methods for diagnosis and treatment, including options such as novel biomarkers, nanomedicine, and microbiome alterations.
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This article was submitted to Quality of Life, a section of the journal Frontiers in Global Women's Health
Edited by: Lysia Demetriou, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Reviewed by: Pooja Popli, Baylor College of Medicine, United States; Iris Brandes, Hannover Medical School, Germany
ISSN:2673-5059
2673-5059
DOI:10.3389/fgwh.2022.902371