Identifying factors leading to delays in diagnosis of endometriosis: a scoping review protocol

Despite endometriosis being a severe and debilitating disease, with consequences on women’s physical and psychological state, delays in diagnosis remain unchanged over the past 30 years. To date, delays and consequences of the delays have sparsely been evaluated and often, academic papers choose to focus on one specific factor relating to diagnostic delay. This is problematic as individual factors relating to delays are evaluated in isolation, without consideration that throughout the journey to diagnosis, one delay may impact the next. Though delays in diagnosis have been captured, they have not yet been compiled into a single comprehensive document which explicitly outlines each factor contributing to delays. Due to this, this scoping review will identify contributing factors to delays in diagnosis, determine whether they are being addressed and assess whether delays can be improved.