CLINICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF WOMEN UNDERGOING HYSTERECTOMY AFTER TUBAL-STERILIZATION

Objective: To examine differences in clinical and pathologic character istics between women undergoing hysterectomy who had had prior tubal s terilization and those who had not. Method: One thousand eight hundred fifty-one women undergoing hysterectomy were enrolled as part of a mu lticenter, prospective cohort study. We used logistic regression to de scribe the association between prior tubal sterilization and patient c haracteristics at hysterectomy. Results: Although sterilized women wer e not more likely than nonsterilized women to have a menstrual disorde r as a presenting complaint they were more likely to have a primary di scharge diagnosis of menstrual disorder (odds ratio [OR] 1.5, 95% conf idence interval [CI] 1.2-2.0). After adjustment for menstrual indices, sterilized women had an increased probability of having normal findin gs on pathologic examination, which differed by age (women less than 3 0 years: OR 3.4, 95% CI 2.0-5.5; women 30 years of age and older: OR 1 .7, 95% CI 1.3-2.3). Conclusion: Differences in clinical and pathologi c characteristics between sterilized and nonsterilized women suggest t hat nonbiologic factors may influence decision making regarding hyster ectomy among sterilized women.