Education and hysterectomy

A small Canberra survey provided the opportunity to investigate the observation that tertiary education is associated with lower hysterectomy rates. Despite the sample's being small and unrepresentative of either the Australian or even the Canberra population, it was possible to replicate a simple version of a national model of hysterectomy. Tertiary education remained strongly predictive of a low rate of hysterectomy. Additionally, the study showed, first, the tertiary-educated women were less likely than others to be told that they needed a hysterectomy in the first place. Secondly, they were less likely to accept such advice: hysterectomy was undergone by only 1 of 5 of the better educated women to whom it had been suggested, but by 4 of 5 of the less educated.