Abstract
Endometriosis patients face a significant economic burden. In addition to the directly
attributable costs of the diagnosis and therapy of endometriosis, such as drug treatment
and multimodal pain therapy, various indirect follow-up costs can be expected, e.g.,
due to incapacity for work and reduced work performance. As already reported in previous
publications, endometriosis is associated with considerable costs for the health care
system and society as well as for the affected women and their families.
In order to measure the extent of the costs associated with endometriosis patients,
250 patients with an average age of 32.80 years were recruited via social media and
interviewed about their self-financed costs as part of an online survey. The assessed
direct costs comprise inpatient treatments, outpatient or pain therapy, fertility
treatments, hormone therapies, prescribed and privately paid medications and aids,
other therapeutic procedures, and directly attributable travel costs for endometriosis
treatments.
This resulted in an average cost of € 2059.55 per year. Indirect costs were calculated
based on loss of income, day-to-day support, care costs, costs due to follow-up illnesses
and other costs. On average, the indirect costs were € 2174.25. The average costs
resulting from the survey totalled € 4233.81 per year with a standard deviation of
€ 8240.31.
An increase of out-of-pocket costs can be assumed. This may result from an improved
range of services for alternative treatment methods and an increased awareness of
the need for personal investment in health. However, further health economic studies
are needed to validate the results.
Keywords endometriosis - cost of illness - health care costs
