The Risks of Gynecologic Surgery: What You Need to Know
Hysterectomy (surgical removal of the uterus) alone, hysterectomy with oophorectomy (surgical removal of ovaries), and tubal ligation (permanent birth control) are all linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The findings and their implications are published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Women's Health ().
Stacey Missmer, ScD, from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and coauthors, examined the association between no surgery, hysterectomy alone, hysterectomy with oophorectomy, or tubal ligation and risk of CVD among participants in the Nurses Health Study II.
Hysterectomy and Cardiovascular Disease
CVD was based on confirmed fatal and non-fatal myocardial infarction, fatal coronary heart disease, or fatal and non-fatal stroke.‘The link between hysterectomy/oophorectomy and heart disease risk altered by age at gynecologic surgery, with the greatest association among women who had surgery before age 50.’
"Physicians caring for women who have had gynecologic surgery, especially if it was performed before age 50, should be aware of the women's higher risk for cardiovascular disease and take appropriate preventive measures," says Journal of Women's Health Editor-in-Chief Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA.
Reference:
- Hysterectomy With and Without Oophorectomy, Tubal Ligation, and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in the Nurses' Health Study II - (https:www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/jwh.2022.0207?)