title: Quality of life associated to chronic pelvic pain is independent of endometriosis diagnosis--a cross-sectional survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pain is strongly related to poor quality of life. We performed a cross-sectional study in a university hospital to investigate quality of life in women suffering from chronic pelvic pain (CPP) due to endometriosis and others conditions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-seven patients aged between 25 and 48 years-old submitted to laparoscopy because of CPP were evaluated for quality of life and depressive symptoms. Quality of life was accessed by a quality of life instrument [World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment-Bref (WHOQOL-bref)]. Causes of pelvic pain were determined and severity of CPP was measured with a visual analogue scale. According to the intensity of pelvic pain score, patients were classified in two groups (group Low CPP < 25th percentile visual analogue scale and group High CPP > 25th percentile). Four dimensions on quality of life were measured (physical, psychological, social and environmental). We stratified the analysis of quality of life according CPP causes (presence or not of endometriosis in laparoscopy).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with higher pain scores presented lower quality of life status in psychological and environmental dimensions. We found a negative correlation between pain scores and psychological dimension of quality of life (r = -0.310, P = .02). Quality of life scores were similar between groups with and without endometriosis (physical 54.2 ± 12.8 and 51.1 ± 13.8, P = 0.504; psychological 56.2 ± 14.4 and 62.8 ± 12.4, P = 0.182; social 55.6 ± 18.2 and 62.1 ± 19.1, P = 0.325; environmental 59.2 ± 11.7 61.2 ± 10.8, P = 0.608; respectively)
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Higher pain scores are correlated to lower quality of life; however the fact of having endometriosis in addition to CPP does not have an additional impact upon the quality of life.
authors.affiliation: Serviço de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia, Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brasil. souza.cab@gmail.com
authors.forename: Carlos A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Souza
authors.forename: Luciano M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Camila
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Scheffel
authors.forename: Vanessa K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Genro
authors.forename: Virginia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rosa
authors.forename: Marcia F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Chaves
authors.forename: João S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Cunha Filho
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004715:Endometriosis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement; D017699:Pelvic Pain / Q000145:classification / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires