Comparison of the prevalence rates of metabolic disorders between two groups of women undergone surgically induced menopause by hysterectomy and bilateral oophorectomy: A population-based study

Surgically induced menopause after bilateral oophorectomy, leads to a sudden drop in the secretion of sex hormones from the ovaries. Hysterectomy is another surgical procedure that leads to menopause, without an abrupt drop in the secretion of sex hormones. The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence rates of metabolic disorders between hysterectomized and oophorectomized women.

This cross-sectional study included postmenopausal women participating in Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study. Initially, 549 surgically induced postmenopausal women (age range of 20-70 years) entered the study. Then, all the subjects with menopausal age of 50 years or older were excluded. Data were extracted from Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study Questionnaires.

The mean age of the participants and age at menopause were 60.8 ± 9.8 and 43.7 ±4.6 years, respectively. The prevalence rate of the metabolic syndrome in the postmenopausal women who had undergone bilateral oophorectomy (71.3%) was higher than that in the hysterectomized women (66.5%), but this difference was not significant. Prevalence of pre-hypertension was higher in the oophorectomized women after adjusting for confounding variables (31.7% vs. 23.0%, P = 0.01).

Our findings showed the prevalence rate of pre-hypertension was higher in oophorectomized women. Therefore, screening measures for the prevention of this disorder in these women are necessary.