The Evil Twins of Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis on Interstitial Cystitis/Bladder Pain Syndrome and Endometriosis

Alessandra I, Inzoli Alessandra, Marta B, Barba Marta, Carazita Valeria, Valeria C, Cola Alice, Alice C, Fantauzzi Martina, Martina F, Passoni Paolo, Paolo P, Polizzi Serena, Serena P, Matteo F, Frigerio Matteo
2024 · doi:10.20944/preprints202407.1134.v1 · W4400686938
review preprint OA: green CC0 ⤵ 1 in-corpus citation
🔓 Open OA copy View on OpenAlex View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-07, 2026-07-09 ⓘ

This systematic review and meta-analysis found the coexistence of endometriosis and interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome in women with chronic pelvic pain to range from 15.5% to 78.3%.

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

Abstract

Background: Chronic pelvic pain is a debilitating condition affecting quality of life. Endometriosis is one of the leading causes of CPP, but recent studies highlighted the role of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/PBS) in causing CPP. Only some studies addressed the coexistence between these two conditions, which seems more frequent than what is supposed, leading to diagnostic delays and unnecessary surgeries. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the estimate of the coexistence of endometriosis and IC/PBS. Methods: We performed a systematic review of the literature indexed on PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, and Cochrane using a combination of keywords and text words represented by “painful bladder syndrome”, “endometriosis”, “interstitial cystitis”, “bladder pain syndrome”. We performed a meta-analysis of the results. Results: Meta-analysis shows that the coexistence of endometriosis and IC/PBS in women with CPP ranges between 15,5-78,3%, which is higher than the prevalence of IC/PBS in the general population. Conclusions: Women with CPP need a multidisciplinary approach and a referral to centers with specific expertise. In cases of endometriosis unresponsive to treatment, other reasons for CPP need to be ruled out, above all in women not responsive to treatment.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosischronic_pelvic_paininterstitial_cystitis

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 (46)

Cited by (1)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-08-09T06:41:02.236481+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-04T00:00:01.174412+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK