Clinical and pathologic characteristics of women undergoing hysterectomy after tubal sterilization

OBJECTIVE: To examine differences in clinical and pathologic characteristics between women undergoing hysterectomy who had had prior tubal sterilization and those who had not. METHODS: One thousand eight hundred fifty-one women undergoing hysterectomy were enrolled as part of a multicenter, prospective cohort study. We used logistic regression to describe the association between prior tubal sterilization and patient characteristics at hysterectomy. RESULTS: Although sterilized women were not more likely than nonsterilized women to have a menstrual disorder as a presenting complaint, they were more likely to have a primary discharge diagnosis of menstrual disorder (odds ratio [OR] 1.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2-2.0). After adjustment for menstrual indices, sterilized women had an increased probability of having normal findings on pathologic examination, which differed by age (women less than 30 years: OR 3.4, 95% CI 2.0-5.8; women 30 years of age and older: OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.3-2.3). CONCLUSION: Differences in clinical and pathologic characteristics between sterilized and nonsterilized women suggest that nonbiologic factors may influence decision making regarding hysterectomy among sterlized women.