Hysterectomy Can Lead to Incontinence Later in Life

The August 12 issue of the British journal The Lancet reports that women who have a hysterectomy have a substantially greater chance of developing urinary incontinency, many times not until years after the surgery.

In a literature review of 12 different studies, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco found that women who had a hysterectomy were about 40% more likely to develop urinary incontinence than women who did not have the surgery. Women who were 60 years old and above were 60% more likely to become incontinent.

More than 600,000 hysterectomies are performed every year. Only about 10% of these are done to treat cancer. About 90% of the time they are done to treat non-cancerous benign tumors and vaginal bleeding.

According to the authors, "Women need to decide how much their uterine symptoms are affecting their quality of life today," they said. "Women should weigh what the immediate benefits are of a hysterectomy versus the long-term risks later in life."