Asia-Pacific: Expert panel's suggestions for improving endometriosis-related health issues

We need more emphasis on endometriosis care in Asia-Pacific countries

Key Points

Highlights:

• It is a well-known scientific fact that women of Asian ethnicity have relatively high rates of endometriosis in comparison to white female populations.

Importance:

• Asian countries comprise about 60% of the total world population and also half of the population is women. These statistics highlight the crucial negative impact of endometriosis on the well-being of Asian women.

What’s done here:

• The expert physicians on women’s health discuss the data on endometriosis in Asian women and propose actionable measures to address diagnostic delays in Asia-Pacific countries.

Key Results:

• The expert panel suggests reducing diagnostic delays by improving public awareness:
  • improving clinical diagnostic skills,
  • organizing multidisciplinary care facilities for early referral,
  • updating and implementing diagnostic guidelines,
  • and lobbying policymakers and insurance companies.

Limitation of the study:

• The extrapolation across the Asia-Pacific region is somewhat defective since some countries were not present in the meeting upon which this article is based.

Lay Summary

"Endometriosis should be diagnosed as early as possible for the sake of the patients" and the Asia-Pacific Endometriosis Expert Panel sought to address the reasons for diagnostic delays in this part of the world and published a consensus report in a recent issue of the "International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics". 

It is a widely known scientific reality that Asian women have relatively high rates of endometriosis when compared to white female populations elsewhere. 60% of the total world population is in Asia, besides half of the population is women. These statistics highlight the crucial negative impact of endometriosis on the well-being of Asian women.

A meeting of the Asia-Pacific Endometriosis Expert Panel attended by 12 experts and one patient advocate from Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and India took place on November 26, 2022, in Singapore. Clinical diagnosis of endometriosis, involving history-taking, physical examination, imaging (transvaginal ultrasound/magnetic resonance imaging), and symptom severity assessment, is preferable to surgical diagnosis in the first instance and laparoscopy is no longer considered essential for the diagnosis of endometriosis.

It is an unresolved question that the usefulness and ramifications of clinical (vs surgical) diagnosis have not yet been fully studied. We need more research to establish whether diagnostic delays are helped by the switch to a subjective clinical diagnosis rather than a definitive surgical diagnosis.

The cost-effective implications of this paradigm shift among gynecologists is yet another issue. More information is also needed in terms of differentiating clinically between dysmenorrhea, pelvic pain syndrome, and endometriosis. This expert group hopes that this article will be compelling to those with an interest in endometriosis in the Asia-Pacific.

Research Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37837343/