Abnormal uterine bleeding types according to the PALM-COEIN FIGO classification in a medically underserved American...

To describe the distribution of abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) type according to the polyp (AUB-P); adenomyosis (AUB-A); leiomyoma (AUB-L); malignancy and hyperplasia (AUB-M); coagulopathy (AUB-C); ovulatory dysfunction (AUB-O); endometrial (AUB-E); iatrogenic (AUB-I); and not yet classified International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics classification system in a medically underserved American inner-city population. Our secondary objective was to find an association between risk factors and type of AUB.

We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional analysis at our outpatient women’s health clinic located in the Bronx, New York City, from November 2016 to December 2019.

Among 390 patients, the most common AUB type was AUB-L (n=185, 47.4%), followed AUB-P (n=100, 25.6%), AUB-A (n=55, 14.1%), AUB-O (n=19, 4.9%), AUB-M (n=15, 3.8%), AUB-E (n=14, 3.6%) and AUB-I (n=2, 0.5%). Race was distributed as follows: Hispanic (68.2%), Black (25.9%), Caucasian (3.3%), and Asian (2.1%). Comorbidities included hypertension (36.4%), diabetes (15.6%), and thyroid disease (6.9%). The median age at diagnosis was significantly higher in AUB-M (59 years old, p<0.001), AUB-P (52.5 years old, p<0.001), AUB-E (51.5 years old, p=0.001) compared to AUB-L (46 years old). The median body mass index (BMI) was significantly higher in AUB-E (34.2 kg/m², p=0.048) and AUB-O (32.6 kg/m², p=0.038) compared to AUB-L (30 kg/m²). Race was equally distributed among the AUB types. AUB-M (66.6%, p=0.002), AUB-E (57.1%, p=0.022), AUB-P (47%, p<0.001), and AUB-A (30.8%, p<0.001), had statistically significantly more cases of hypertension compared to AUB-L (28.1%). AUB-P (27%, p<0.001), AUB-M (26.6%, p=0.025), AUB-E (35.7%, p=0.001) and AUB-A (9%, p<0.001) had more patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) than AUB-L (3.3%).

In an American population of medically underserved patients, the most common cause of AUB was leiomyoma and the most common race was Hispanic. Women with AUB-L were younger, with lower BMI, and with fewer cases of hypertension and DM when compared to other types of AUB.