Salivary cortisol concentrations, stress and quality of life in women with endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain

Figures & data

Table I.  Anthropometric data, systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure of women in the control group and those with endometriosis.

	Control	Endometriosis
Age (years)	30.9 ± 0.92	33.85 ± 1.04
Weight (kg)	60.5 ± 1.03	65.4 ± 2.36
Height (m)	1.63 ± 0.007	1.59 ± 0.011
SBP (mmHg)	112.3 ± 1.13	111.45 ± 2.23
DBP (mmHg)	73.5 ± 1.01	73.5 ± 1.78
N	82	93

Values are expressed as group mean ± SEM. The number of patients (n) is indicated. No statistically significant differences were found between the group with endometriosis and the control group (p>0.05; unpaired Student's t-test).

Table II.  Medians, 25th and 75th percentiles of the scores in the health-related quality of life 36-item short form (SF-36) questionnaire in healthy women (control) and those with endometriosis.

SF-36 domains	Control (n = 82)	Endometriosis (n = 93)
Physical functioning	90	70*
	85–91	55–84
Role-physical	100	50*
	67–82	25–100
Bodily pain	74	41*
	67–77	26–62
General health	82	52*
	75–82	32–72
Vitality	60	35*
	55–63	25–52
Social functioning	75	50*
	71–80	25–75
Role-emotional	83	67
	58–75	33–100
Mental health	72	40*
	65–72	24–60

n is the number of subjects; *statistically significant difference versus control group (p < 0.0001; Mann–Whitney test).

Figure 1 Salivary cortisol concentration (μg/dl) at 0800, 1600 and 2000 h in the control group (C, n = 82) and in the group of patients with endometriosis (E, n = 93). *p < 0.05 compared to the control group at the same time (MANOVA). Numbers inside the bars are the means ± SEM.

Table III.  Basal salivary cortisol concentration (μg/dl) in samples collected at 0800, 1600, and 2000 h in women with endometriosis suffering different levels of chronic pelvic pain, as determined by the visual analog scale of pain (VAS).

	Low pain	Moderate pain	Severe pain
0800 h	0.56 ± 0.05	0.48 ± 0.06	0.51 ± 0.07
1600 h	0.23 ± 0.02	0.29 ± 0.05	0.25 ± 0.03
2000 h	0.14 ± 0.02	0.14 ± 0.02	0.10 ± 0.02
n	40	34	19

Data are expressed as means ± SEM for the number of individuals (n) indicated for each group; levels of pain were determined by the VAS as low (scores 1–3), moderate (scores 4–7), and severe (scores 8–10). No significant effect related to groups was found (p = 0.305), although there was a significant effect related to sampling time (p < 0.01, MANOVA).

Table IV.  Basal salivary cortisol concentration (μg/dl) in samples collected at 0800, 1600, and 2000 h in women with endometriosis scoring low or high in the mental health (MH) domain on the SF-36 questionnaire.

	MH ≥ 50	MH < 50
0800 h	0.50 ± 0.04	0.55 ± 0.06
1600 h	0.26 ± 0.03	0.27 ± 0.03
2000 h	0.12 ± 0.01	0.15 ± 0.03
n	34	59

Data are expressed as means ± SEM for the number of individuals (n) indicated for each group. No significant effect related to groups was found (p = 0.158), although there was a significant effect related to sampling time (p < 0.01, MANOVA).