Long-term risk of hysterectomy among 80,007 sterilized and comparison women at Kaiser Permanente, 1971-1987.

ABSTRACT

PIP: To study the longterm risk of hysterectomy after tubal sterilization, the authors analyzed historical hospital discharge data on 39.502 parous women sterilized between 1971 and 1984, and 40,535 comparison women matched on age, race, parity, and interval since last birth. Sterilized women were significantly more likely than were comparison women to undergo hysterectomy (relative risk [RR] = 1.35, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.26-1.44), especially for diagnoses of menstrual dysfunction and pelvic pain (RR = 1.88, 95% CI, 1.65-2.13). Higher relative risks were not associated with greater tissue-destructive methods of tubal occlusion. Relative risks were highest for women who were young on the reference data (RR = 2.45, 95% CI 1.79-3.36 for women aged 20-24 years), but declined steadily as age increased (RR = 0.96, 95% CI 0.72-1.28 for women aged 40-49 years).