Key Summary
- Black women face major delays and fewer treatment options for fibroids
- Hysterectomies are over-offered; non-surgical options underused
- Fibroids affect Black women far more than white women
A report published by all-party parliamentary group on black health has found that Black British women were more likely to face delays in treatment for uterine fibroids.
Uterine fibroids (leiomyomas) are benign tumors, noncancerous in nature.
However, they can cause difficulties like heavy and long periods, pain, pelvic pressure, infertility and an increased risk of miscarriage.
For this report, the All Party-Parliament Group (APPG) had surveyed more than 500 women regarding their experience of uterine fibroids, with more than 70 percent of respondents being Black British.
The survey found that more than a quarter (27 percent) of respondents were not offered any treatment after being diagnosed with fibroids
Half of them (50 percent) experienced delays to their diagnosis of at least two years, while 26 percent of respondents had lived with fibroids for more than 10 years.
Caribbean and African Health Network chair Prof Faye Ruddock said, “Fibroids are a reproductive health emergency that disproportionately affect black women, and are the leading cause of reproductive complications such as disrupted fertility journeys, pregnancy loss and surgical interventions.”
A 2023 survey, funded by the Department of Health and Social Care had found that 19.8 percent black women had uterine fibroids, compared with only 5 percent among white women.
The Parliamentary report also found that black women were disproportionately offered hysterectomies as a first-line treatment after a delayed diagnosis.
It claimed that non-surgical options, including a myomectomy, were still underutilised and not highlighted as an alternative treatment option.
The chair of all-party group, Paulette Hamilton, said: “For too long, black women have suffered in silence with fibroids, their pain dismissed and their care delayed. This report breaks that silence.
