Awareness of Endometriosis Symptoms—A Cross Sectional Survey among Polish Women

Maja Kotowska, Justyna Urbaniak, Wojciech J Falęcki, Piotr Łazarewicz, Mateusz Masiak, Iwona Szymusik
International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021 · vol. 18(18) , pp. 9919 · doi:10.3390/ijerph18189919 · PMID:34574840 · W3201288224
article OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 21 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-09 ⓘ

This cross-sectional survey of 3319 Polish women found that infertility and dysmenorrhea were the most recognized endometriosis symptoms, while painful defecation and dysuria were least recognized by the general population.

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Abstract

Background: Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory condition characterized by the presence of endometrial-like tissue outside of the uterine cavity. It affects approximately 6–12% among reproductive-age women. Laparoscopy is still the gold standard for diagnosing it. Since an average of couple of years elapses from the onset of symptoms to the definitive diagnosis, analysis of symptoms could serve as a non-invasive diagnostic tool. Methods: An anonymous survey was distributed online in November 2019. It contained 23 closed questions, which covered two areas: knowledge and awareness of endometriosis symptoms and its presence among respondents. Results: A total of 3319 women completed the survey, of which 328 were diagnosed with endometriosis (9.9%). The symptoms of endometriosis most often indicated by the general population were infertility and dysmenorrhea. In contrast, those least frequently indicated were painful defecation and dysuria. Respondents suffering from endometriosis indicated that they often or sometimes experienced dysmenorrhea (83%, n = 273), pelvic pain not related to menstruation (72%, n = 235), dyspareunia (68%, n = 223) and painful defecation or dysuria (40%, n = 132). Conclusions: Since the search for a non-invasive diagnostic endometriosis marker has been conducted for many years without success so far, it seems that awareness of the clinical presentation and reported symptoms may help to provide earlier diagnoses.

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Condition tags

mesh:D004412mesh:D004715mesh:D017699endometriosisdysmenorrheadyspareuniainfertility

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Cross-Sectional Studies Dysmenorrhea Dysmenorrhea Female Humans Pelvic Pain Pelvic Pain Pelvic Pain Poland Poland

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References (19)

Cited by (21)

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