A prospective, observational study was carried out to determine the influence of combined oral contraceptives (COC) in overall and sexual quality of life post-treatment in endometriosis and adenomyosis (AD) plus endometriosis people.

Notably, 42 females suffering from deep infiltrating endometriosis (DIE), 31 suffering from DIE plus AD and 39 non-AD/DIE controls were enrolled. All the subjects were examined for the pain symptoms (dysuria, dyschezia, dyspareunia and dysmenorrhea). Following parameters were evaluated: (a) heavy menstrual bleeding using the Pictorial Blood Loss Assessment Chart, (b) quality of life of patients via Short Form-36 questionnaire (SF-36), (c) sexual quality of life using Brief Profile of Female Sexual Function (B-PFSF) and Sexual Quality of Life-Female questionnaire (SQOL-F).

At baseline, higher scores in SF-36, SQOL-F and B-PFSF questionnaires were observed in non AD/DIE controls when compared to other groups. The higher intensity in pain symptoms and deteriorated quality of sexual life was reported in DIE plus AD subjects compared with DIE subjects.

A remarkable improvement was observed in sexual and overall quality of life in DIE and DIE plus AD groups following 12 months of treatment with enhancement in sexual quality of life being slightly higher in DIE plus AD subjects in comparison to DIE subjects. A decrease in the pain symptoms was also noted in both groups.

COC containing 2 mg dienogest/30 μg ethinyl estradiol may improve overall and sexual quality of life post-treatment in DIE and DIE plus AD patients, but further studies are required to confirm these findings.