First-of-its-kind economic evaluation shows Flo App’s Symptom Checker may save patients thousands of dollars and years of unnecessary suffering
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Flo Health, the world’s #1 women’s health app, today announced the publication of a landmark peer-reviewed study demonstrating that its digital Symptom Checker could reduce the average time to endometriosis diagnosis from approximately seven years to around three years, representing a reduction of more than 50%. The study, published in npj Digital Medicine within the prestigious Nature Portfolio, is the first economic evaluation of a digital symptom checker for endometriosis.
Endometriosis is a chronic gynecologic condition affecting an estimated 190 million women worldwide, yet systemic gaps in care and limited symptom awareness have historically led to years of diagnostic delay. The new research, conducted in collaboration with academics from The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the York Health Economics Consortium, evaluated the health and economic impact of using Flo Health’s Symptom Checker alongside standard doctor-led care, compared with standard care alone.
Study Key Findings:
- Reduction in average time to diagnosis from approximately 7 years under standard care to around 3 years when Flo Health’s Symptom Checker is used alongside standard care
- A modest improvement in quality-adjusted life years, equivalent to nearly three weeks of additional healthy life per patient
- Approximately $5,196 USD in savings per person over a 40-year timespan, resulting from reduced medical costs and productivity loss
- A net monetary benefit of $10,089 USD per person, reflecting combined financial savings and the value of improved health outcomes
“Endometriosis can deeply disrupt women’s lives, yet many spend years searching for answers within a system that hasn’t always been designed to connect the patterns they experience over time,” said Dr. Anna Klepchukova, Chief Medical Officer at Flo Health. “This research explores how digital tools may help women better recognize their symptoms and bring clearer insights into conversations with their health care providers. While these tools aren’t diagnostic, they support earlier awareness and more informed decisions, ultimately changing the trajectory of their care and their lives.”
Flo Health’s Symptom Checker is a digital tool designed to educate users about symptom patterns that may be consistent with endometriosis, encouraging them to seek medical care earlier. To date, more than 2.7 million women in the United States have used Flo Health’s Symptom Tracker for endometriosis-related support. The tool is intended as an educational resource and does not diagnose, treat, or replace care from a medical professional.
The study further found that digital symptom checkers demonstrate the greatest value when accuracy exceeds 70%, user compliance surpasses 45%, and outcomes are evaluated over a time horizon of at least 10 years. The authors suggest that the modeling framework used in this research could inform future evaluations of digital tools designed to address other under-recognized women’s health conditions.
Flo Health supports 77 million monthly active users and works with more than 100 medical experts to deliver trusted health information for women at every stage of life. The company became the first European femtech unicorn following a July 2024 investment from General Atlantic.
The full study, Economic evaluation of a digital symptom checker for endometriosis using a Markov decision process model, is available in npj Digital Medicine.
About Flo Health
Flo Health is the leading app in the Health & Fitness category and the #1 OB-GYN-recommended app for period and cycle tracking. The company supports 77 million monthly active users and works with over 100 medical experts to provide curated health insights, cycle and ovulation tracking, and a private community for women at every stage of their health journey. Flo Health’s Pass it on Project aims to improve health literacy by providing up to 1 billion women in need with free access to Flo Premium, with 20 million subscriptions donated to date. For more information, visit flo.health.
Contacts
PR Contact
Samantha Wannemacher
Flo Health
[email protected]
