van Aken MAW, et al. - The objective of this study is to investigate how pain intensity and pain cognition are associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in women with endometriosis. Pain cognition is independently related to the HRQoL in endometriosis patients. Clinicians must be aware of this phenomenon and may consider treating pain symptoms in a multidimensional, individualized way in which the psychological aspects are taken into account. In international guidelines on the management of women with endometriosis more attention ought to be paid to the psychological aspects of care.

Methods

• For this study, they conducted a cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey.
• This study was conducted at the multidisciplinary referral center.
• In this study, women with laparoscopically and/or magnetic resonance imaging-proven endometriosis (n = 50) and healthy control women (n = 42) were selected.
• For HRQoL, two questionnaires: the generic Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the Endometriosis Health Profile 30 (EHP-30).
• For pain cognition, three questionnaires: the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), the Pain Vigilance and Awareness Questionnaire (PVAQ), and the Pain Anxiety Symptoms Scale (PASS).
• They used verbal Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) for pain intensity.

Results

• In this study, they found that health-related quality of life was statistically significantly impaired in women with endometriosis as compared with healthy control women.
• The variables of pain intensity and pain cognition were independent factors affecting the HRQoL of women with endometriosis.
• Patients with endometriosis had statistically significantly more negative pain cognition as compared with controls.
• They reported more pain anxiety and catastrophizing, and they were hypervigilant toward pain.