Time elapsed from onset of symptoms to diagnosis of endometriosis in a cohort study of Brazilian women

Maysa Silva Arruda, Arruda MS, M S Arruda, Petta CA, C A Petta, Abrão MS, M S Abrão, C L Benetti-Pinto, Benetti-Pinto CL
Human Reproduction · 2003 · vol. 18(4) , pp. 756–759 · doi:10.1093/humrep/deg136 · PMID:12660267 · W2111297082
Observational OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 304 in-corpus citations
📄 Open PDF View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-06 ⓘ

This study of Brazilian women found a median 7-year delay from endometriosis symptom onset to diagnosis, with younger women and those with pelvic pain experiencing longer diagnostic delays.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The study aim was to assess the time elapsed between onset of symptoms and diagnosis of endometriosis, and to identify the factors associated with diagnostic delay in a group of Brazilian women. METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, 200 women with surgically confirmed endometriosis were interviewed at an endometriosis outpatient clinic. RESULTS: The median (interquartile range) time elapsed from onset of symptoms until diagnosis of endometriosis was 7.0 (range 3.5-12.1) years. The younger the women at onset of symptoms, the longer the period for diagnosis to be made: the median delay was 12.1 (range 8.0-17.2) years in women aged or =30 years. The median time period between onset of symptoms and diagnosis was 4.0 (2.0-6.0) years for women whose main complaint was infertility, but 7.4 (3.6-13.0) years for those with pelvic pain. CONCLUSIONS: The delay in diagnosis of endometriosis was considered to be long, and especially so for young women with pelvic pain. More information relating to endometriosis should be offered to general physicians and gynaecologists in order to reduce the time taken to diagnose this condition.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

dysmenorrheadyspareuniaendometriosischronic_pelvic_paininfertility

MeSH descriptors

Dysmenorrhea Dyspareunia Endometriosis Endometriosis Infertility, Female Pelvic Pain Adult Adult Age Factors Age Factors Brazil Brazil Cohort Studies Cohort Studies Dysmenorrhea Dysmenorrhea Dyspareunia Dyspareunia Endometriosis Endometriosis

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

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. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (9)

Cited by (50)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-10-14T06:08:39.101224+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T21:00:58.458861+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK