In a study published in BMC Medicine, Prof. GAO Ying's team from the Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health (SINH) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with collaborators from Hainan Medical University and Peking University Health Science Center, estimated the prevalence of hysterectomy of Chinese women, and revealed its association with metabolic disorders.

Hysterectomy is one of the most common surgical procedures (second only to cesarean section) for women worldwide. Its prevalence has been reported to vary widely among different populations. Understanding the epidemiological characteristics of hysterectomy may help to precisely estimate the incidence rate of uterine cancer. In addition, identifying the risk factors for hysterectomy in women of childbearing age may help to preserve the uterus and diminish the falling fertility rates.

In this study, the researchers conducted a multi-center study involving 9,013,462 female participants, of whom 210,793 (2.34%) had a history of hysterectomy. They found that the age-standardized prevalence of hysterectomy in urban China was 2.36% (provincial range: 0.925%-3.26%), with women aged 55-59 (7.61%) having the highest prevalence.

Moreover, the researchers found that hysterectomy was positively correlated with metabolic disorders including obesity, hypertension, diabetes, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, metabolic-associated fatty liver disease, and metabolic syndrome. 

Among women aged 18-34, the associations of hysterectomy with diabetes and hypertension were as high as 6.09 (95% CI: 4.48-8.26) and 6.08 (95% CI: 5.18-7.14), respectively, which are much stronger than those of other age groups. This finding highlights the importance of maintaining metabolic health for women of childbearing age to maintain their reproductive health.

The study estimates the prevalence of hysterectomy of Chinese women based on the largest population dataset to date on hysterectomy research, and provides strong evidence of a significant association between hysterectomy and metabolic disorders.