Treatment Patterns, Complications, and Health Care Utilization Among Endometriosis Patients Undergoing a Laparoscopy or a Hysterectomy: A Retrospective Claims Analysis

INTRODUCTION:

Hysterectomy and laparoscopy are common surgical procedures used for the treatment of endometriosis. This study compares outcomes for women who received either procedure within the first year post initial surgery.

METHODS:

The study used data from the Truven Health MarketScan claims databases from 2004 to 2013 to identify women aged 18-49 years who received an endometriosis-related laparoscopy or hysterectomy. Patients were excluded if they did not have continuous insurance coverage from 1 year before through 1 year after their endometriosis-related procedure, if they were diagnosed with uterine fibroids prior to or on the date of surgery (i.e., index date), or if they had a hysterectomy prior to the index date. The descriptive analyses examined differences between patients with an endometriosis-related laparoscopy or hysterectomy in regard to medications prescribed, complications, and hospitalizations during the immediate year post procedure.

RESULTS:

The final sample consisted of 24,915 women who underwent a hysterectomy and 37,308 who underwent a laparoscopy. Results revealed significant differences between the cohorts, with women who received a laparoscopy more likely to be prescribed a GnRH agonist, progestin, danazol, or an opioid analgesic in the immediate year post procedure compared to women who underwent a hysterectomy. In contrast, women who underwent a hysterectomy generally had higher complication rates. Index hospitalization rates and length of stay (LOS) were higher for women who had a hysterectomy, while post-index hospitalization rates and LOS were higher for women who had a laparoscopy. For both cohorts, post-procedure complications were associated with significantly higher hospitalization rates and longer LOS.

CONCLUSION:

This study indicated significantly different 1-year post-surgical outcomes for patients who underwent an endometriosis-related hysterectomy relative to a laparoscopy. Furthermore, the endometriosis patients in this analysis had a considerable risk of surgical complications, subsequent surgeries, and hospital admissions, both during and after their initial therapeutic laparoscopy or hysterectomy.