A study of hysterectomy in a family practice

This paper reports on a study of women in a family practice who have undergone hysterectomy as compared with a group of matched controls. Significant differences were found in the greater number of major surgical procedures (other than hysterectomy) and the reporting of chronic and recurrent symptoms for the study group. Study group women were also found to have a greater number of identified intrapersonal and family problems. There was no significant difference, however, in the number of identified chronic organic problems. Differences which did not reach statistical significance suggest that women in the study group may be more likely to be living without a male partner, to be using long-term medication, and to be smokers. A most important finding was that the group of women who had undergone hysterectomy had also had 2.6 times the number of major surgical operations than the controls, excluding the hysterectomy. There were no differences between the two groups with respect to a number of other factors studied, eg, education, religion, history of psychiatric admission, obesity.