Adnexal surgery at the time of hysterectomy in women 65 years and older undergoing hysterectomy for prolapse: do practice trends differ by route of surgery?

Introduction And Hypothesis: The objective was to determine whether the rate of adnexal surgery varies by route of hysterectomy in women over the age of 65 undergoing hysterectomy for prolapse. We hypothesized that women undergoing vaginal hysterectomy would be less likely to undergo bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (BSO) at the time of their hysterectomy for prolapse.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional analysis using the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database. Our primary outcome was concomitant adnexal surgery performed at the time of hysterectomy, classified into five groups: BSO, unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (USO), bilateral salpingectomy (BS), other adnexal surgery, and no adnexal surgery. The study sample included women aged 65 years and older who underwent hysterectomy between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2014 and with a diagnosis of genital prolapse.

Results: Of the 91,292 patients over the age of 65 who underwent a hysterectomy for prolapse, the majority of hysterectomies were vaginal (69%), followed by abdominal (13%), laparoscopic (11%), and robotic (7%). The number of women having a hysterectomy and undergoing a BSO was much lower for vaginal than for other hysterectomy types; 20.3% of women undergoing vaginal hysterectomies had a BSO, compared with 79.2% in abdominal, 81.8% in laparoscopic, and 73.8% in robotic-assisted procedures. Women who received vaginal hysterectomies were five times as likely (RR: 5.02, 95% CI: 4.70-5.35) to have no concomitant adnexal procedure compared with other routes of hysterectomy.

Conclusions: Women over the age of 65 undergoing hysterectomy for prolapse are significantly less likely to have adnexal surgery if undergoing hysterectomy via vaginal route compared with the other routes.