The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on women with endometriosis: a retrospective cohort study on referral center population

Spanò Bascio L, Ludovica Spanò Bascio, Gambigliani Zoccoli S, Sofia Gambigliani Zoccoli, Rosamaria Pellegrini, Pellegrini R, Farulla A, Antonino Farulla, Marianna Cannoletta, Cannoletta M, Laura Paterlini, Paterlini L, La Marca A, Antonio La Marca, Alboni C, Carlo Alboni
Minerva obstetrics and gynecology · 2025 · vol. 77(4) , pp. 264–269 · doi:10.23736/S2724-606X.24.05518-0 · PMID:38602014
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⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This study assessed 284 women with endometriosis, finding that 41% of those infected with COVID-19 reported worsened gynecologic symptoms and a higher prevalence of self-care decline and slowed activity compared to uninfected women.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 · read from full text ⓘ

This retrospective cohort study enrolled 284 women with endometriosis treated at a referral center in Modena, Italy, between January 2020 and April 2021. Participants completed questionnaires assessing SARS-CoV-2 infection status, changes in gynecological symptoms, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Syndrome (HADS) to evaluate psychological impact; the primary outcome assessed symptom worsening after COVID-19 infection, and secondary outcomes examined clinical and psychological changes during the pandemic. Among 170 infected women, 24% reported worsening endometriosis symptoms during infection, and overall 42.9% reported symptomatic worsening, with infected women reporting greater “slowed down” feelings (24% vs 15.8%, p=0.065) and loss of interest in self-care (44% vs 31%, p=0.055). The paper does not explicitly state a key limitation in the provided text, but the study design relies on retrospective questionnaire data. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it evaluates COVID-19 pandemic and SARS-CoV-2 infection–related changes in endometriosis symptoms and psychological status.

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Patients with endometriosis are thought to have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and estimates suggest that 6.2% of them were infected with SARS-CoV-2. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study enrolling 284 women at the Polyclinic of Modena between January 2020 and April 2021. Patients were given specific questionnaires to investigate COVID-19 infection and any changes in gynecological symptoms. All patients were also administered the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Syndrome (HADS) Questionnaire to assess the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary outcome was to assess the clinical impact and any worsening of gynecological symptoms after COVID-19 infection; the secondary outcome was to evaluate the clinical and psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in patients with endometriosis or chronic pelvic pain. RESULTS: A total of 170 women experienced COVID-19 infection, while 114 were consistently negative and asymptomatic for COVID-19. The two groups showed similar baseline. A total of 122 women with COVID-19 infection and 106 COVID-19 negative patients had already the vaccine administration with two doses of vaccine (72.20% vs. 93%, P=0.001). Among the 170 patients affected by COVID-19, 41 (24%) reported worsening gynecologic endometriosis symptoms, during the infection. According to our results, 196 of 284 reported changes in their gynecological health status during pandemic, and 84 reported symptomatic worsening (42.9%); 24% of patients with infection reported feeling slowed down vs. 15.8% of unaffected patients (P=0.065) and 44% of positive patients reported loss of interest in self-care vs. 31% of negative patients (P=0.055). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with endometriosis seemed to have worsening gynecological and psychological clinical status during the pandemic.
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Background

Patients with endometriosis are thought to have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and estimates suggest that 6.2% of them were infected with SARS-CoV-2.

Methods

This is a retrospective cohort study enrolling 284 women at the Polyclinic of Modena between January 2020 and April 2021. Patients were given specific questionnaires to investigate COVID-19 infection and any changes in gynecological symptoms. All patients were also administered the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Syndrome (HADS) Questionnaire to assess the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary outcome was to assess the clinical impact and any worsening of gynecological symptoms after COVID-19 infection; the secondary outcome was to evaluate the clinical and psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in patients with endometriosis or chronic pelvic pain.

Results

A total of 170 women experienced COVID-19 infection, while 114 were consistently negative and asymptomatic for COVID-19. The two groups showed similar baseline. A total of 122 women with COVID-19 infection and 106 COVID-19 negative patients had already the vaccine administration with two doses of vaccine (72.20% vs. 93%, P=0.001). Among the 170 patients affected by COVID-19, 41 (24%) reported worsening gynecologic endometriosis symptoms, during the infection. According to our results, 196 of 284 reported changes in their gynecological health status during pandemic, and 84 reported symptomatic worsening (42.9%); 24% of patients with infection reported feeling slowed down vs. 15.8% of unaffected patients (P=0.065) and 44% of positive patients reported loss of interest in self-care vs. 31% of negative patients (P=0.055).

Conclusions

Patients with endometriosis seemed to have worsening gynecological and psychological clinical status during the pandemic. KEY WORDS: Endometriosis; COVID-19; Pelvic pain

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Condition tags

endometriosischronic_pelvic_pain

MeSH descriptors

COVID-19 COVID-19 COVID-19 COVID-19 COVID-19 COVID-19 COVID-19 COVID-19 COVID-19 COVID-19 COVID-19 COVID-19 COVID-19 COVID-19 COVID-19 COVID-19 COVID-19 COVID-19 COVID-19 COVID-19

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