Clinical Symptoms, Radiological Findings and Factors Associated With Endometriosis at the Regional Hospital Bamenda: A Case-Control Study

Background: Globally, endometriosis affects approximately 10% of women of reproductive age. Clinical evaluation and imaging techniques are the first-line methods for diagnosis, but laparoscopy remains the gold standard. The purpose of this study was to study the clinical symptoms, radiological findings, and factors associated with endometriosis at the Regional Hospital Bamenda. Methods : This was a hospital-based case-control study carried out for five months from 20 ^th January 2024 to 30 ^th May 2024 at the gynaecologic unit of the Regional Hospital Bamenda. The study population comprised all women who consulted at the gynaecologic consultation unit. The cases were all women diagnosed with endometriosis. Each case was matched by age with healthy controls from the outpatient consultation unit. Data was collected using a predesigned questionnaire and entered into CS Pro 8.0.1. Descriptive statistics and regression analysis were used for data analysis with significance at p<0.05 and 95% confidence interval. Results: We enrolled 64 cases and 64 controls. All patients diagnosed with endometriosis had pelvic pain, with 75% experiencing cyclical pain. Dysmenorrhea ( 93.8%) and cyclical dyschezia ( 9.4%) were the most common gynaecologic and non-gynaecologic symptoms, respectively. The most common ultrasound finding was endometrioma ( 95.3%). After adjusting for confounders, a history of abdominal surgery (aOR:3.86; 95%CI:1.43 - 11.3 , p= 0.010) and infertility (aOR:4.20; 95% CI:1.50,13.0; p= 0.008) were independently associated with the occurrence of endometriosis, whereas parity ≥2 (aOR:0.37; 95%CI:0.14-0.92, p= 0.036) and a menstrual cycle of ≥29days (aOR:0.14 95%CI:0.05-0.42, p<0.001) were protective factors. Conclusion : All Cases presented with pelvic pain, and endometrioma was the most common radiological finding. Screening and management should be considered for patients with a history of abdominal surgery and infertility.