Endometriosis patients still receive varying levels of care.

SKDE published the Health Atlas for Gynaecology in 2019, which examined, among other things, the use of surgical interventions for endometriosis during the period 2015—17. It was found that there was significant geographical variation in the use of surgical treatment for endometriosis.

SKDE has now updated the results for 2019—21 through its analysis section. Additionally, SKDE has investigated the proportion of women treated outside their own health region who underwent a new operation within two years and were on sick leave the year before and after the operation. The analysis has been updated as part of the Health Atlas for Chronic Diseases.

See the results at Helseatlas.no.

Vestfold at the Top for Surgical Interventions

The figures for 2019—21 show that there is still significant and unjustified variation in the services available to women with endometriosis. If you reside in Vestfold, you are more likely to receive such an surgical offer.

The number of endometriosis procedures per 1,000 women is over four times higher for residents of Vestfold (2.5) than in Førde (0.6) and Nord-Trøndelag (0.6). In comparison, the number of procedures per 1,000 women in most other admission areas in Norway ranges from 1.0 to 1.6.

The professional environment at the Hospital in Vestfold states that they have a high level of surgical activity related to this patient group. They also see the results in connection with the establishment of a competence environment up until 2018 when the Hospital in Vestfold functioned as an unofficial "reference hospital" for this type of treatment. The Hospital in Vestfold also operates the Norwegian Gynaecological Endoscopy Register.

More Laparoscopic Surgeries in South East

There were approximately 1,800 surgical interventions for endometriosis annually during the period 2019—2021. Laparoscopic surgery (closed) is considered the preferred treatment for endometriosis, although surgery can also be performed through an open abdominal approach.

The results from the Health Atlas show that the proportion of open procedures for endometriosis has decreased from 12 per cent to eight per cent from the period 2015—17 to 2019—21. However, there are significant variations. In the admission areas of Nord-Trøndelag and Førde, there is a higher proportion (over 20%) of open procedures. For the other admission areas, the proportion of open procedures ranges from four to 15 per cent. Women residing in Health South-East have the lowest proportion of open procedures.

The majority of women who underwent surgery for endometriosis in 2019—2021 were treated in their own region. The proportion of women treated in another region was highest for Health North (23%). For women in Health West and Health Mid-Norway, 19 per cent were treated in another region. Women in Health South-East were almost exclusively operated on in their own region.

Read more about endometriosis at Helsenorge.no.

The results in the Health Atlas for Chronic Diseases have also been published in Springer Nature.