Self-Reported Reasons for Undertaking Hysterectomy Among the Women Aged 45 Years and Above: Evidence From Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI) Wave-1 (2017–2018)

Abstract

The article unravels the prevalence and underlying reasons for undergoing hysterectomy among women (45 years and above) across India. LASI Wave-1 data set (2017–2018) (with retrospective methodology) is used for examining the hysterectomy prevalence by sociodemographic characteristics of these women. Heavy menstrual bleeding/pain (32.1%), fibroids/cysts (24.2%) and uterine prolapse (16.3%) are the most cited reasons for surgeries. Overall, 11.5% is the countrywide hysterectomy prevalence rate while the southern (18.2%) and western (12.7%) Indian regions reported the highest prevalence. A significant proportion of these may be attributed to unnecessary rampant surgeries prescribed by doctors in certain parts of India, summoning strict regulation by the government.

Keywords:

• Hysterectomy
• LASI
• reproductive health
• women
• self-reported reasons
• menstrual bleeding
• fibroid cysts

Author Contributions

Author 1 conceived the article, conducted statistical analyses on data, and drafted the methodology and data interpretation. Author 2 and Author 3 conducted data interpretation, literature review, and manuscript draft and writing the article.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data Availability Statement

The data are available publicly from the International Institute for Population Studies (IIPS), Mumbai, for research use. Data can be obtained from them upon request, which does not require any ethics approval or signed participant consent.

Additional information

Funding

No funding/grant was received from any funding agency, commercial entity, or not-for-profit organization for this article.