[Chronic pelvic pain: epidemiology and economic impact].

OBJECTIVE

To combine epidemiological and health economics data concerning urological chronic pelvic pain syndromes.

MATERIAL

Review of articles concerning this topic in the Medline (PubMed) database, chosen according to their scientific relevance.

RESULTS

Prevalences are about 10,000/100,000 for chronic pelvic pain syndrome/chronic prostatis, 239 to 306/100,000 for bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis, 15,000 to 20,000/100,000 for post-vasectomy testis and epididymis pain, 14,000/100,000 concerning deep female dyspareunia, 1000 to 9000/100,000 for male ejaculation or orgasma-related pain, 15,000 to 21,000/100,000 for female chronic pelvic pain, of which one third is related to endometriosis. Little has been published about the frequency of other chronic pelvic and perineal pain syndromes. The financial impact is comparable to other more frequent chronic diseases, with costs definitely above what the prevalences would have led to believe.

CONCLUSION

The frequency of pelvic disease association, their predisposing factors, common environments and comordities suggest a possible common origin. This epidemiological data highlights the benefit of a multidisciplinary approach of chronic pelvic and perineal pain. This could lead to a better understanding of involved mechanisms, and ultimately treatment options.