Effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on women affected by endometriosis: a large cross-sectional online survey

Alessandro Arena, Benedetta Orsini, Eugenia Degli Esposti, Diego Raimondo, Jacopo Lenzi, Ludovica Verrelli, Raffaella Iodice, Paolo Casadio, Renato Seracchioli
Annals of medicine · 2021 · vol. 53(1) , pp. 1924–1934 · doi:10.1080/07853890.2021.1991589 · PMID:34714186 · PMC8567944 · W3209285754
article OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 13 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This study found that older age, higher anxiety, and unemployment were associated with a greater risk of PTSD in women with endometriosis during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has forced healthcare providers to reorganize their activities to protect the population from infection, postponing or suspending many medical procedures. Patients affected by chronic conditions were among the most affected. In the case of catastrophes, women have a higher lifetime prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and those with endometriosis have higher anxiety levels, making them fragile in such circumstances. MATERIALS AND METHODS: email, containing different validated tools for the evaluation of anxiety levels and the risk of PTSD. A multivariable linear regression was performed to assess the impact of patients' characteristics on the distress caused by the SARS-COV-2 pandemic. RESULTS: = -4.79, 95% CI = -8.44 to - 1.15, ref. unemployed women). The implementation of telemedicine in routine clinical practice was favourably viewed by 75.6% of women. DISCUSSION: Women with endometriosis are particularly exposed to the risk of PTSD during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, especially if they are older or have higher levels of anxiety. Gynaecologists should resort to additional strategies, and telemedicine could represent a feasible tool to help patients cope with this situation.KEY MESSAGESThe COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the lives of women with endometriosis, who appeared to have a considerable risk of PTSD.Older age, higher anxiety levels and unemployment were independently associated with the risk of developing PTSD.Clinicians should develop successful alternative strategies to help patients cope with this situation, and telemedicine might represent an applicable and acceptable solution.

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Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Anxiety COVID-19 Endometriosis Health Services Accessibility Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic Adult Age Factors Anxiety Anxiety Anxiety Anxiety Communicable Disease Control Communicable Disease Control COVID-19 COVID-19 COVID-19 Cross-Sectional Studies Endometriosis Endometriosis Female

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