The 2014 Rodolphe Maheux Award for best Clinical Abstract was presented to Aisha De Graaff at the closing ceremony of the 12th World Congress on Endometriosis for her work on how endometriosis-related quality of life outcomes are highly influenced by recruitment strategies.
Dr De Graaff and her team from Maastricht University in the Netherlands set out to compare study results of women recruited in different settings to ascertain if the setting in which the patient is recruited influences the obtained outcome of quality of life studies.
Methods
A restrospective questionnaire was utilised based on a cohort study (part of the WERF EndoCost study), which included medical history, current symptoms, effect on daily life and quality of life expressed by the norm based scores for the physical (PCS) and mental (MCS) component of the SF-36v2. Categorical and ordinal data were compared by the Chi-square test and continuous data through the analysis of variance (ANOVA).
The investigated women were recruited in three different settings: a tertiary care centre for endometriosis (n=126), five secondary care centres (n=56) and an endometriosis patient association (n=276) (case mix of women treated in secondary or tertiary care).
Results
WES President, Linda Giudice, presents Aisha De Graaff with her award at the WCE2014 Closing Ceremony
More women recruited from tertiary care (67%) underwent laparotomy(s) than those recruited from secondary care (49%) and the patient association (48%)(P=0.001). Affected job was more prevalent in patient association members and tertiary care (63% and 56%) than those from secondary care (32%) (P<0.001). This was also true for affected relationships (55% and 39% versus 18%) (P<0.001). Dyspareunia was more prevalent in the patient association (56%) than in both secondary (38%) and tertiary care (49%) (P=0.01). Chronic pain was comparable between tertiary care (63%) and patient association (69%) while lower in the secondary care (45%) (P=0.005). Substantial differences in quality of life were detected between secondary care (PCS 50.6, MCS 47.2), tertiary care (PCS 45.1, MCS 44.2) and patient association (PCS 43.6, MCS 42.3) (P=<0.001, P=0.018).
Conclusion
Dr De Graaff’s study showed that outcomes are highly influenced by recruitment strategy. None of the groups appeared to be representative of the total population of women with endometriosis. Therefore future study populations should preferably consist of a weighted sample of both secondary and tertiary care patients.
The judges noted that Dr De Graaff’s presentation on “AFFECTED SEXUAL FUNCTIONING IN WOMEN WITH ENDOMETRIOSIS INFLUENCES SEXUAL FUNCTIONING OF THEIR MALE PARTNER AND LEADS SUBSEQUENTLY TO UNCERTAINTY IN THEIR RELATIONSHIP” was of extremely high quality also.
Shortlist for the award
In addition to Dr De Graaff, the following were short-listed for the Rodolphe Maheux Award 2014:
- Tom Holland | London (UK)
for his presentation on “ULTRASOUND MAPPING OF PELVIC ENDOMETRIOSIS: DOES THE LOCATION AND NUMBER OF LESIONS AFFECT THE DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY? A MULTICENTRE DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY STUDY” - Luiz Fernando Pina Carvalho | Sao Paulo (Brazil)
for his presentation on “ENDOMETRIOSIS AND HIGH RISK OF CO-MORBIDITIES: ANALYSIS OF MORE THAN HALF MILLION PATIENTS” - Uma Thiruchelvam | Dublin (Ireland)
for her presentation on “DYSFUNCTIONAL UTERINE NATURAL KILLER (UNK) CELL DEVELOPMENT IN ENDOMETRIOSIS” - Chi Chiu Wang | Hong Kong (China)
for his presentation on “ANTI-ANGIOGENESIS OF GREEN TEA AND POTENTIALS OF PRODRUG OF EPIGALLOCATCHIN-3-GALLATE (PRO-EGCG) AS A NOVEL ANTI-ANGIOGENESIS AGENT FOR ENDOMETRIOSIS”