Abstract
Objective: To examine the association between polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and the risk of uterine leiomyomata (UL). Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Participants from the Black Women's Health Study, an ongoing prospective cohort study of African-American women aged 21-69 years in 1995 residing in the United States. Participants completed mailed questionnaires about their health status every 2 years. Patient(s): Premenopausal women with no history of UL at the start of follow-up (N = 23,571). Intervention(s): No interventions were administered. Main Outcome Measure: Incidence of UL among those with and without self-reported, physician-diagnosed PCOS over a 6-year period of follow-up (1997-2003). Medical-record validation in a random subset of UL cases confirmed 96% of diagnoses. Result(s): During 114,373 person-years of follow-up, 3,631 new cases of UL confirmed by ultrasound (N = 2,926) or hysterectomy (N = 705) were reported. After adjustment for potential confounders, the incidence of UL was 65% higher among women with PCOS than women without PCOS (incidence rate ratio, 1.65; 95% confidence interval, 1.21-2.24). The incidence rate ratios remained constant with increasing time after the diagnosis of PCOS. Results were similar when analyses were confined to women reporting a recent Papanicolaou smear, a proxy for a pelvic examination. Conclusion(s): The present study suggests a positive association between PCOS and UL in African-American women.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1108-1115 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Fertility and sterility |
Volume | 87 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 2007 |
Keywords
- African-Americans
- Stein-Leventhal syndrome
- females
- leiomyoma
- polycystic ovaries
- premenopausal
- uterine neoplasms
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Reproductive Medicine
- Obstetrics and Gynecology