Correlates of hysterectomy among African-American women

Hysterectomy is the second most common surgery performed on US women. Baseline data from a large study of African-American women were used to examine correlates of premenopausal hysterectomy. Analyses were conducted on participants aged 30-49 years; 5,163 had had a hysterectomy and 29,787 were still menstruating. Multiple logistic regression was used to compute prevalence odds ratios for the association of hysterectomy with various factors. Hysterectomy was associated with region of residence: Odds ratios for living in the South, Midwest, and West relative to the Northeast were 2.63 (95% confidence interval (CI): 2.38, 2.91), 2.02 (95% CI: 1.81, 2.25), and 1.89 (95% CI: 1.68, 2.12), respectively. Hysterectomy was inversely associated with years of education and age at first birth: Odds ratios were 1.96 (95% CI: 1.74, 2.21) for < or =12 years of education relative to >16 years and 4.33 (95% CI: 3.60, 5.22) for first birth before age 20 relative to age 30 or older. Differences in the prevalence of major indications for hysterectomy did not explain the associations. This study indicates that the correlates of hysterectomy among African-American women are similar to those for White US women. The associations with geographic region and educational attainment suggest that there may be modifiable factors which could lead to reduced hysterectomy rates.