Morbidity and mortality after hysterectomy show large difference by race

Family Planning Perspectives, May 1994 by Althaus, Frances A

Although the black women in the study were younger and had fewer coexisting diseases than did white women, they were more likely to have experienced medical or surgical complications after hysterectomy and were much more likely to have died, even after the data had been adjusted for the effects of other variables. However, logistic regression analysis indicated that the higher complication rate among black women after hysterectomy had little if any relationship to their longer hospital stays or higher mortality rates.

The data set used in this study had no information on factors that may have caused the black women in the study to have higher rates of abdominal hysterectomy, a procedure correlated with longer hospital stays and higher mortality rates. It also had no specific information on cause of death and did not include laboratory test results, patient health history and other characteristics, clinician experience and credentials, or quality of care measures.

The investigators say the data available to them do not explain why black women in this study were at higher risk than white women for complications, extended hospitalization and mortality after hysterectomy. What is clear, they conclude, is that "in many ways, having a hysterectomy appears to be a different experience for black women than for white women."

Reference

1. K.H. Kjerulff et al., "Hysterectomy and Race," Obstetrics & Gynecology, 82:757-764, 1993.