OBJECTIVES

To describe the frequency of hysterectomies of women affiliated to a public health insurance company in Colombia, segmented by five-year groups over a period of five years.

METHODS

A retrospective dynamic cohort from a subsidized and public health insurance company was followed between 2012-2016. An average of 2,034 annual hysterectomies were performed on an average population of 765,431 women. To calculate the incidence of hysterectomies, the number of events (hysterectomies) were taken from the procedures database performed by the insurer. Every procedure was identified through the unique procedure codes (CUPS) from Colombia. Risk of hysterectomies (number of hysterectomies / number of women) and hysterectomy rates (# of hysterectomies / 10,000 women-year) were calculated from the number of events identified and follow-up of the dynamic cohort.

RESULTS

The cumulative incidence of hysterectomies was 0.002. The frequencies of hysterectomies on the population presented a normal distribution, where the highest number of hysterectomies performed during the five years was concentrated in women between 45-49 years (23.7%), followed by women between 40-44 (22.5% ). The hysterectomy rate for the age group of 45-49 was 98.9 per 10,000 women-year (95% CI 79.9-121.9) and for the 40-44 group was 91.5 per 10,000 women- year (95% CI: 75.5-102.1). The risk of hysterectomies in women aged 45-49 years was 1.009% (95% CI 0.84% -1.15%), while for the 40-44 group it was 0.93% (95% CI 0.82% -1.03%) during the period. Diagnoses that most generated these procedures were leiomyoma of the uterus without another specification (49.9%) and unspecified abnormal vaginal and uterine bleeding (11.6%).

CONCLUSIONS

Similar to other studies findings, hysterectomies were related mostly to leiomyomas diagnoses and were mostly concentrated in the group of 40 to 49 years.