More women are receiving treatment for endometriosis

The rate of endometriosis hospitalisations has increased more than four times faster than female hospitalisations overall in the past decade.

While female hospitalisations rose by 5% between 2015 and 2025, the rate of endometriosis admissions increased by 23%, from 145 to 180 hospitalisations per 100,000.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has published the data, providing insights for the first time into surgical procedures commonly performed to treat endometriosis.

AIHW spokeswoman Amy Young said the report helps practitioners to understand changes in treatment and care pathways, and will help improve health outcomes for people affected.

“Endometriosis is a chronic condition that affects many Australian girls, women and people assigned female at birth, and can have a significant impact on their daily lives and overall wellbeing,” Ms Young said.

“The most common surgery for endometriosis is laparoscopic excision, a keyhole surgery which involves removing the endometriosis tissue.”

How endometriosis is treated

The most common procedures undertaken in endometriosis hospitalisations were diagnostic, IUD insertions or laparoscopic surgery.

Of the 24,700 hospitalisations for endometriosis in 2024–25, more than 90% involved a procedure.

The data also shows that 7 in 10 admissions were to a private hospital.

This follows last year’s first new PBS listing for endometriosis medicine in 30 years, and a boost in medicare payments for doctors for appointments to insert intrauterine contraceptive devices (IUD’s). 

Ms Young said the data showed treatment pathways had changed significantly over the past decade, with increased access to advanced pain management treatments now becoming more available.

“The proportion of hospitalisations without a procedure increased from 6% in 2015–16 to 9% in 2024–25,” she said.

Endometriosis tissue can be vaporised using heat energy, known as diathermy or ablation. 

Laparoscopic excision has increased from 57 to 93 hospitalisations per 100,000 females in the past 10 years, while the rate of laparoscopic diathermy decreased from 32 to 25 per 100,000 females.

Almost 2 in 3 (62%) endometriosis hospitalisations involved a laparoscopic excision or ablation procedure in 2024–25, an increase from 58% in 2015–16.

Clinical guidelines supporting patients and clinicians

Ms Young said the data showed that clinical guidelines were being followed, particularly the use of hormonal treatments after laparoscopic surgery to help prevent symptoms flaring up again.

Hormonal treatments such as the contraceptive pill and IUDs are the first-line recommendation for managing endometriosis symptoms for women who are not trying to conceive. 

“The rate of IUD insertions in hospitals increased from 19 to 29 per 100,000 females between 2015–16 and 2024–25”, said Ms Young. 

“This aligns with clinical guidelines which recommend the use of hormonal treatments after laparoscopic surgery to help reduce the recurrence of symptoms.”

While a major procedure, the rate of hysterectomies for endometriosis has doubled in the past decade.

Hysterectomy is usually only considered for treating endometriosis once other surgical options have been tried, failed or are deemed inappropriate. 

The rate of abdominal hysterectomy for endometriosis has doubled in the last ten years to 23 per 100,000 females. 90% of those hysterectomies were for women aged over 35, while there were less than 10 hysterectomies each year among girls and women aged under 25 for the same time period.