Better awareness drives more endometriosis hospital admissions

More women are being hospitalised for endometriosis. Here's why that could be a good thing In short: The rate of people being hospitalised due to endometriosis is increasing faster than the rate of women being admitted to hospital for any reason, according to a report. This increase is likely due to growing awareness of the condition. In this article: More people are receiving hospital care for endometriosis, according to a new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). The report showed the rate of women and girls being admitted to hospital for endometriosis had increased by 23 per cent in the past decade. In comparison, the rate of women and girls being admitted to hospital for any condition increased only 4.7 per cent over that period. "These increases are likely influenced by growth in the awareness of endometriosis among the general population and medical practitioners in recent years, as well as advances in our understanding of endometriosis as a disease and improvements in the medical technology available for diagnosis," the report said. What is endometriosis? Endometriosis is a disease where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows in other parts of the body. It affects about one in seven Australian women between the ages of 18 and 45, significantly raising the risk of infertility, and many struggle to get a diagnosis. The condition can cause intense pain, but not necessarily in all cases. Why is endometriosis so painful? Swipe to learn how endometriosis affects the body and can cause pain in many patients. Obstetrician-gynaecologist Marilla Druitt is the president of Pelvic Pain Victoria and has studied emergency department presentations in Geelong. She said data can be hard to compare year to year as patients do not necessarily present to hospital with endometriosis, but with abdominal pain. "So someone can go to emergency with acute or chronic pelvic pain, and they can be labelled as having 10 different things, which is consistent with how complicated this disorder can be," she said. But overall, Dr Druitt said the data was good news. "I think the amazing endo warriors who have raised the profile of endometriosis in Australia have done wonderful things to get pelvic pain on the agenda and to talk about this suffering that so many women are experiencing," she said. Dr Druitt worked on the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) endometriosis guidelines published last year and is working on pelvic pain guidelines she hopes will be published in 2027. "I would love the focus to be on pelvic pain [not just endometriosis] because the more I do this, the less I think endometriosis is the only thing that matters. "I think a lot of people who have endo and pelvic pain are not getting better very quickly at the moment because we're really only talking about one contributor and it's not enough for them, and then they miss out on treatment." Key findings from the report There were 24,700 hospital admissions for endometriosis in 2024/25. - That is a rate of 180 hospitalisations for endometriosis for every 100,000 women and girls. That's up from 145 a decade ago. - Nine out of 10 of those hospitalisations involved a procedure. - Seven out of 10 admissions were to a private hospital. - The proportion of hospitalisations without the patient undergoing a procedure increased from 6 per cent to 9 per cent in the decade to 2024/25. The report said this may suggest greater access to hospital-based pain management for severe endometriosis. Dr Druitt would like more patients to receive holistic treatment before undergoing surgery. Holistic treatments include things like physiotherapy and pain psychology. "I'd love people to have access to physio and psychology, but the population is going up way faster than clinicians can keep up with," she said.