Our research demonstrates that the number of inpatient surgical procedures for the treatment of patients with a primary diagnosis of uterine fibroids increased 18% over the five-year period from 1998-2002. These findings are consistent with the results of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s hysterectomy surveillance from 1994-1999 for patients with a uterine fibroid [...]

Population Characteristics Overall, for patients hospitalized with any uterine fibroid diagnosis, there were 2,136,151 admissions over the five-year period. The number of patients with any uterine fibroid diagnosis on their discharge record increased an average of 4.0% per year. For more than 50% of this subset, the primary diagnosis was uterine fibroids (Table 1). Patients [...]

Data Source Patients were identified from the Healthcare Utilization Project National Inpatient Sample (HCUP-NIS) for the years 1998-2002. The HCUP-NIS is a national, population-based sample representing 20% of hospital discharges annually in the United States and is prepared by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The number of states contributing data ranged from 22 [...]

INTRODUCTION Uterine leiomyomas (fibroids) are benign, often asymptomatic tumors derived from smooth muscles and the extracellular matrix proteins collagen and elastin. Signs and symptoms of uterine fibroids include heavy or prolonged menstrual bleeding, pain and pregnancy complications. Although patients with benign symptoms may be monitored without treatment, common surgical treatments include hysterectomy (abdominal, vaginal and [...]