Abstract
Endometriosis is a disease characterised by endometrium-like tissue growing outside of the uterus. While this disease is found in over 176 million people worldwide, the recognition and acknowledgement of the disease are still lacking. Despite the prevalence of endometriosis, it takes an average of 7 years to diagnose the disease, with most patients initially being misdiagnosed. This short article aims to describe the reasons for the long diagnosis time, as well as to illustrate what improvements have been made within the endometriosis space over the past years. Finally, I will make some policy suggestions I believe could improve the diagnosis time and treatment of endometriosis in the future.
Lessons for practice
Keywords: Endometriosis, diagnosis times, multidisciplinary treatment
Citation: Mijnster, L. (2022). “No need to lump it in with gynaecology.” Improving the Diagnosis and Treatment of Endometriosis. Public Note, 10(1), 34-37.
Endometriosis is a disease characterised by endometrium-like tissue growing outside of the uterus. While this disease is found in over 176 million people worldwide, the recognition and acknowledgement of the disease are still lacking. Despite the prevalence of endometriosis, it takes an average of 7 years to diagnose the disease, with most patients initially being misdiagnosed. This short article aims to describe the reasons for the long diagnosis time, as well as to illustrate what improvements have been made within the endometriosis space over the past years. Finally, I will make some policy suggestions I believe could improve the diagnosis time and treatment of endometriosis in the future.
Lessons for practice
- Endometriosis presents itself in an array of symptoms that are often misconceived as other diseases. The training of health care providers plays an important role in differentiating these diseases from one another and shortening diagnosis times in general
- Endometriosis can present symptoms in the whole body and can therefore be classified as a ‘systemic disease’. Patients can benefit from multidisciplinary treatment that considers this.
- The prevalence of endometriosis can be compared to other diseases like type 1 diabetes, but the awareness of this disease is lower. It can be wondered if this has any linkage to endometriosis mainly being found in women.
Keywords: Endometriosis, diagnosis times, multidisciplinary treatment
Citation: Mijnster, L. (2022). “No need to lump it in with gynaecology.” Improving the Diagnosis and Treatment of Endometriosis. Public Note, 10(1), 34-37.
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About the author
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