Questionnaires for the Assessment of Central Sensitization in Endometriosis: What Is the Available Evidence? A Systematic Review with a Narrative Synthesis

Giulia Emily Cetera, Veronica Boero, Camilla Erminia Maria Merli, Giussy Barbàra, Carlotta Caia, Paolo Vercellini
Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2023 · vol. 31(3) , pp. 633–644 · doi:10.1007/s43032-023-01343-4 · PMID:37751146 · PMC10912156 · W4387034116
review OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 5 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-09 ⓘ

This systematic review identified the Central Sensitization Inventory as the most frequently used and validated questionnaire for assessing central sensitization in endometriosis patients, with the Fibromyalgia Survey Questionnaire also noted.

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Abstract

It has been suggested that central sensitization (CS) may be involved in the failure of standard medical and surgical treatment to relieve endometriosis-related pain. However, there is no gold standard for the diagnosis of CS, and self-reported questionnaires are used as diagnostic surrogates. The main objective of this review was to identify all CS questionnaires used in clinical endometriosis studies. The secondary objective was to qualitatively analyze strengths and weaknesses of each questionnaire. A PubMed and EMBASE systematic literature search conducted in April 2023 using the terms "endometriosis; central pain; central sensitization; questionnaire; patient-reported outcome measure; screening tool" identified 122 publications: six articles were included in the review. The Central Sensitization Inventory (CSI) is the most frequently used questionnaire for the detection of CS in patients with endometriosis. It has been validated in patients with endometriosis, in whom it appears to have good psychometric proprieties. The Fibromyalgia Survey Questionnaire (FSQ) has also been used, although it has not been specifically validated in endometriosis patients. The debate regarding these questionnaires' construct validity is still open and will be so until a gold standard diagnostic tool for CS is found. In fact, some authors argue these questionnaires are measuring psychological vulnerability and a hypervigilant state that is associated with pain, rather than CS itself. However, their use should not be discouraged as they are able to identify chronic pain patients which warrant further attention and who may benefit from broader treatment strategies.

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Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Central Nervous System Sensitization Central Nervous System Sensitization Central Nervous System Sensitization Central Nervous System Sensitization Central Nervous System Sensitization Central Nervous System Sensitization Female

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (64)

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