Uterine Fibroids Linked to 81% Higher Heart Disease Risk, Finds New Study

A recent study found that women with uterine fibroids had more than 80 per cent increased risk of long-term heart disease than those without the condition. The study was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association. Uterine fibroids is a condition wherein there are muscle and tissue growths in or on the wall of your uterus. These growths are usually not cancerous (benign) and are the most common noncancerous tumour in females. The condition can cause a variety of symptoms like pain and heavy, irregular vaginal bleeding, and more.

Fibroids can be as small as a seed or get as large as a watermelon. These growths can develop within the wall of your uterus, inside the main cavity of your uterus or on the outer surface of your uterus, says Cleveland Clinic. The new study reveals that the impact of uterine fibroids might be more than just on reproductive health, it can also affect your heart health.

The study which was based on earlier research found that women who suffered from uterine fibroids may have an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The team aimed to understand the relationship between uterine fibroids and cardiovascular risk.

They compared nearly 450,000 who were diagnosed with fibroids to over 2.25 million women who didn't suffer from fibroids. These women were between the age of 18 and 50 years. The researchers included only women who had no history of hysterectomy, menopause, or cardiovascular disease.

The team then tracked the participants for almost 10 years or until they developed cardiovascular disease for the first time. The researchers focused on cardiovascular events such as heart attacks, strokes, and peripheral artery disease. Then, they matched each woman with fibroids to five women of the same age who had no record of fibroids.

Researchers divided participants into two groups: those with uterine fibroids and a comparison group without fibroids. The fibroid group experienced approximately 6.5 cardiovascular events per 1,000 person-years, compared to about 3 events per 1,000 person-years in the comparison group.

Women with fibroids showed consistently higher rates of cardiovascular issues at both 1-year and 10-year follow-ups after diagnosis. Over 1 year, fibroid patients faced an elevated risk of heart conditions, which increased further over time. At 10 years, the cardiovascular risk reached 5.4% in the fibroid group versus 3% in the comparison group.

Even after adjusting for confounders like race, body mass index, smoking, diabetes, and hypertension, women with fibroids had an 81% higher risk of major cardiovascular disease over 10 years. The greatest risk elevation occurred in participants under 40, whose 10-year risk was more than three times higher than the comparison group's.

Julia D. DiTosto, M.S., a Ph.D. Candidate in Epidemiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and study author said, "Our findings suggest that fibroids may serve as an important marker for identifying women at elevated cardiovascular risk, with sustained increased risk persisting up to 10 years after diagnosis."

The study authors call for additional research to validate this link and explore the biological mechanisms. "However, it's important to note that more research is needed to confirm these findings in other populations before formal changes are made to cardiovascular risk assessment guidelines. In the meantime, these results support having thoughtful conversations between women and their providers about heart health in the context of a fibroid diagnosis," DiTosto added.

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