A Review on Uterine-Fibroid-Women Struggle

Fibroids are an important public health concern, both because of the large number of women affected by them and the large number of hysterectomies undertaken to treat the symptoms they cause. Uterine fibroids are the most common benign tumors in women of childbearing age. Fibroids are made of muscle cells and other tissues that grow in and around the wall of the uterus, or womb. Fibroids, known technically as leiomyomata, can vary in size and number and may be accompanied by infertility, miscarriage, and early onset of labor. Most American women will develop fibroids at some point in their lives. One study found that, by age 50, 70 percent of whites and 80 percent of African Americans had fibroids. In many cases, fibroids are believed not to cause symptoms, and in such cases women may be unaware they have them. Although various therapies are used to treat symptoms, including drugs or surgical removal of individual fibroids, when the condition is painful or the number of fibroids is great, doctors may advise surgery to remove the uterusa hysterectomy. More than 200, 000 hysterectomies are performed each year for uterine fibroids. Annual direct health care costs for uterine fibroids exceed $2.1 billion.