A prospective study of outcomes after hysterectomy in mid-aged Australian-born women

Abstract

Objective: To describe the prevalence of hysterectomy in a mid-aged population-based sample of Australian-born women who were menstruating at baseline and followed for 11 years, and to compare the hysterectomized women with the non-hysterectomized women with regard to symptom reporting and health outcomes. Methods: This was a 12-year prospective observational study of 438 women who at baseline were aged 45-55 years, not taking hormone therapy (HT) and had menstruated in the previous 3 months. Interviews were conducted face-to-face. Results: After 11 years of follow-up, 39 (9%) women had experienced a hysterectomy, of whom 43.5% had the uterus only removed, 13% had the uterus plus one ovary a..