Characteristics of Women with Endometriosis from the USA and Puerto Rico

Jessica Fourquet, Ninet Sinaii, Pamela Stratton, Fareed Khayel, Carolina Alvarez-Garriga, Manuel Bayona, Mary Lou Ballweg, Idhaliz Flores
Journal of endometriosis and pelvic pain disorders · 2015 · vol. 7(4) , pp. 129–135 · doi:10.5301/je.5000224 · PMID:27331050 · PMC4910689 · W1895523790
article OA: green CC0 ⤵ 21 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This study compared women with endometriosis from the USA and Puerto Rico, finding similar symptoms but higher rates of chronic pain and infertility in the USA group, potentially due to longer diagnostic delays.

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Abstract

PURPOSE: To describe lifetime differences in clinical characteristics of women with endometriosis between the USA and Puerto Rico. METHODS: A descriptive study using self-administered demographic and clinical questionnaires was undertaken. Women with self-reported surgically diagnosed endometriosis who completed questionnaires from the Endometriosis Association (EA), Wisconsin, USA (n = 4358) and the Endometriosis Research Program (ERP) in Puerto Rico (n = 878), were included in this study. We compared demographic, gynecological and clinical history, frequency of endometriosis-associated symptoms and co-morbidities. RESULTS: Although both groups have similar symptomatology, EA respondents had significantly higher rates of chronic pelvic pain and incapacitating pain than ERP participants. EA respondents were significantly more likely to report a history of problems getting pregnant, heavy bleeding, and hysterectomy than ERP respondents. Miscarriages were more frequently reported by the ERP group. Co-morbidities such as allergies, chronic fatigue syndrome, and fibromyalgia were more prevalent in EA respondents, whereas asthma was significantly more frequent in participants from ERP. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, women with endometriosis from the USA and Puerto Rico reported high rates of pain and infertility and a similar spectrum of symptoms. Those from the EA reported longer time to diagnosis, and diagnostic delays than those from the ERP, which may explain the observed increased in rates of endometriosis-related symptoms and co-morbidities in EA as compared to ERP.

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Condition tags

endometriosischronic_pelvic_paininfertility

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