Differences in the time course of disease progression, quality of life and health service utilization in women with endometriosis

IntroductionThis study aimed to identify different subgroups (clusters) of patients (n = 182) based on the previously defined variables “age” and “diagnostic delay” in order to identify varying needs of (socio-)medical care.MethodsFive clusters were identified by two-step cluster analysis (SPSS 23.0). The mean values for parameters of quality of life, time course of disease progression and health service utilization were compared by chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis H test, and tested for correlations using Spearman's correlation coefficient.ResultsClusters I and II patients recognized their endometriosis symptoms at a relatively late age. The results showed a short diagnostic delay and a low subjective disease burden, although cluster I was characterized by a high level of fatigue. Cluster III results indicated that a lack of social support and comparatively long diagnostic delay were major problems in this group. The women in cluster IV had the worst quality-of-life scores and a below-average utilization of...