Establishment and application of the "electronic follow-up platform for endometriosis" during the COVID-19 pandemic

J Psychosom Obstet Gynaecol. 2023 Dec;44(1):2214842. doi: 10.1080/0167482X.2023.2214842.

Abstract

The management of endometriosis has been complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to introduce the establishment and application of a new follow-up method during the COVID-19 pandemic-the electronic follow-up (e-follow-up) platform for endometriosis-and to test the applicability of the platform-based follow-up management model and patient satisfaction. We used the platform for information entry and post-operative follow-up of 152 patients with endometriosis from January 2021 to August 2022, and compared patients' Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and Visual Analogue Score (VAS) (range: 0 - 10, indicating: no pain-extreme pain) scores preoperatively and after 6-month of follow-up, together with recording patients' follow-up satisfaction and number of recurrence of lesions. Eventually, the SDS, SAS, and VAS scores were significantly lower than those at pre-surgery (p < .001), and the follow-up satisfaction rate reached 100%, with 91.41% expressing great satisfaction. The cumulative number of recurrences was 2 out of 138. Follow-up using this platform reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission, enabled more efficient access to healthcare resources for patients with endometriosis, improved the efficiency of follow-up management, met the mental health needs of the patients.

Keywords: Endometriosis follow up; general gynaecology; mental health; pain; women's health.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19*
  • Endometriosis* / complications
  • Endometriosis* / surgery
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Humans
  • Pandemics
  • Pelvic Pain / etiology