Examining the association of hysterectomy with and without oophorectomy on cardiovascular disease and all-cause, cardiovascular or cancer mortality: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

The associations between hysterectomy and cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality remains unlcear and a meta-analysis with cohort studies is lacking.

Objectives

This study aimed to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies to investigate the relationship between hysterectomy and CVD, coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, heart failure, and all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality. We further explored the effect of oophorectomy on the association between hysterectomy and these health outcomes.

Search strategy

PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Science were searched up to 24 July 2023.

Selection criteria

Cohort studies.

Data collection and analysis

Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were pooled using a random-effects model. We used I² to assess the heterogeneity between studies.

Main results

Forty-three studies were included in the meta-analysis. Hysterectomy was significantly associated with an increased risk of CVD (pooled HR 1.11, 95% CI 1.09–1.13; n = 6; I² = 0) and stroke (HR 1.09, 95% CI 1.04–1.14; n = 7; I² = 52%), but with a decreased risk of cancer mortality (HR 0.93, 95% CI 0.86–1.00; n = 4; I² = 81%). No significant association was observed between hysterectomy and CHD (n = 10; I² = 83%), all-cause mortality (n = 8; I² = 81%) or cardiovascular mortality (n = 7; I² = 89%). Hysterectomy with and without oophorectomy was significantly associated with CVD and stroke risk, but showed a larger effect size for hysterectomy with oophorectomy. A significantly increased risk of CHD was observed in the subgroup of hysterectomy with oophorectomy, but not for the subgroup of hysterectomy alone.

Conclusions

Hysterectomy may increase the risk of CVD, CHD and stroke, but not all-cause, cardiovascular or cancer mortality. Hysterectomy with oophorectomy may have a higher risk of CVD, CHD and stroke than hysterectomy alone. However, the results on CHD and mortality related to hysterectomy should be interpreted cautiously because of the high level of heterogeneity and unstable subgroup analyses.