Global Study of Women's Health (GSWH)
The Global Study of Women's Health (GSWH) is the first prospective epidemiological study to investigate the impact of and risk-factors for endometriosis in 13 countries (17 centres) across the world - a study of this scale has never been undertaken before.
The GSWH recruited 18-45 year old women undergoing laparoscopy across centres in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia. These women were asked to complete a questionnaire either on paper or online in their own language prior to their surgery. Those found not to have endometriosis at laparoscopy acted as controls.
By using standardised data collection in centres across the world and across diverse health care settings, we are gaining insight into the global impact of endometriosis at both a personal and societal level
Preliminary data was presented at the FIGO World Congress on Obstestrics and gynaecology on 6 October 2009, and publication of the results of the study is expected in the first half of 2010.
A paper describing the methodology, as well as results from the pilot study, was published in March 2009:
Nnoaham KE, et al. Multi-center studies of the global impact of endometriosis and the predictive value of associated symptoms. Journal of Endometriosis 2009;1:36-45.
The GSWH is coordinated through the University of Oxford with Dr Krina Zondervan as the principal investigator and Dr Kelechi Nnoaham as the study coordinator.
The GSWH has been made possible through a grant from Bayer Schering Pharma AG, though three of the European centres (Leuven, Oxford and Rome) are part-funded by the EU Public Health Programme through their involvement in the European Network on Endometriosis (ENE).
List of WERF collaborating centres
Clinical trials
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