Changes in quality of life after hormonal treatment of endometriosis

Background. To assess whether hormonal treatment of endometriosis improves quality of life for women with endometriosis. Methods. In a prospective, randomized, double-blind, double-dummy study on 48 women with verified endometriosis, the pain pattern and quality of life were registered before, during and after treatment with nafarelin or medrox yprogesterone acetate. The distribution of the studied parameters were test ed by means of a Skewness test. ANOVA analysis was used for normally distri buted variables and Friedman's analysis and Mann-Whitney U-test for non nor mally distributed variables. Results. There was a difference between the 30 women who participated all t hrough the study and the 18 who dropped out. It was noticeable that anxiety -depression and sleep disturbances were significantly more common among the drop outs. There was a significant reduction in symptom score during the s tudy, without any significant difference between the treatment groups. The sleep disturbances and anxiety-depression score improved significantly from before treatment to the end of the follow-up, but the anxiety-depression s core increased during the nafarelin treatment period. There was a statistic ally significant improvement of paid working life in the nafarelin treated group. All the other psyche-social parameters as well as emotional balance improved during the study period without difference between groups. Conclusion. When hormonal treatment is planned it is very important to take into consideration previous psychosocial experiences of the patient. Facto rs of importance for quality of life such as sleep disturbances and anxiety -depression improved significantly after treatment with nafarelin or medrox yprogesterone acetate.