Endometriosis has a significant impact on women’s career, with an increase in disease days even in old age. An interesting Finnish study reveals the deleterious effects in the workplace
Endometriosis? Has a great impact on women’s careers more than you ever think. The first general study on the association between endometriosis and working capacity has made it clear a terrible fact: endometriosis is associated with a poor working capacity even in the late preliminary age and beyond. Women with endometriosis are forced to ask for a greater number of days of illness.
To reveal it is a study conducted on almost 4 thousand women in Finland and published on Acta Obsthetricia et Gynecological Scandinavianwho discovered that women suffering from endometriosis are requested on average of 10 or more days of illness more than those not sick. They also said they had to ask for disability in many cases.
The good news, if you can say so, is that scientists in Finland They did not find early retirement models or unemployment in the analysis of the 348 participants with endometriosis. However, remember, this research was conducted in a country that already has relatively good health and pension systems in itself. It is not clear if this would be the case elsewhere.
As far as we know, this is the first general study at the level of the population on the association between endometriosis and work capacity, the authors write.
THE’endometriosis is a chronic and often painful disease that has no causes or notesdespite a rich story of possible theories. For several decades, the medical books have actually referred to endometriosis as to a “career woman’s disease”, a notion that today – fortunately – has been completely denied.
Emerging research now suggests that.
What previous studies say
A 2011 analysis carried out in 10 countries found that every woman affected by the endometriosis lost on average 10.8 hours of work weekly, mainly because her symptoms have made it much more difficult to complete the activities.
In 2013, a study in the United States found that endometriosis patients experienced a significantly greater number of days of illness every year. Even when they were quite well to work, their pain and their effort made everything much more difficult.
In addition, the more time it took a person to get a diagnosis of endo, the more likely it was that his profession suffered in the long term.
Retrospective studies suggest that people with Endo generally receive a lower annual salary and experience a slower wage growth and also in countries such as Switzerland, Germany and Austria, who have greater social well -being, women with endometriosis claim to be less successful in the profession they want most because they live with chronic pain and fatigue.
These previous studies agree almost all of the fact that Endometriosis has a serious impact on a person’s working life, but the new Finnish study is the first to examine the impact on the most elderly workers.
A disease that does not even spare the biggest workers
Even if the symptoms of endometriosis can often attenuate with age and menopause, the results suggest that Women with Endo continue to take more days of illness substantially than other women on average at the age of 46.
Fortunately, the disease does not seem to cause unemployment or force early retirement for disability, but in any case it translates into a broad spectrum of symptoms and severity.
According to the analysis, the endometriosis was associated with a poor working capacity at the age of 46. Furthermore, the association between endometriosis and over 10 days of absenteeism had increased. Between 46 and 48 years old, women with endometriosis had 10 days more of disability than women without endometriosis, but 20 days less unemployment. There have been no differences in the early retirement between the study groups up to the age of 52.
Further research is needed, especially at the level of the population, in order to quantify the effects of this very common disease, experts conclude.
For too long, patients with endometriosis remained unheard of or their inconvenience completely rejected. It would be time that we began to pay the attention they deserve.
