Self-reported Costs of Endometriosis Patients in Germany.

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.
Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest All authors declare the following: Payment/services info: The Endo Health GmbH (formerly UG) received funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) from the state of Saxony, Germany. Financial relationships: Nadine Rohloff declares employment and stock/stock options from Endo Health GmbH. CEO, Shareholder. Nadine Rohloff and Nicole R Heinze declare personal fees from DGE (German Nutrition Society). Nicole R Heinze and Teres Götz declare employment from Endo Health GmbH. Consulting fees. Intellectual property info: The Endo-App is a medical device and a registered trademark. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.
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