Uterine fibroids with heavy menstrual bleeding stratified by race in a commercial and Medicaid database

Background: Historically, the clinical characteristics and treatment pathways for patients with uterine fibroids and heavy menstrual bleeding have differed between White and Black women.

Objective: To provide a contemporary comparison of patient characteristics and treatment patterns among White and Black women with uterine fibroids and heavy menstrual bleeding in the United States.

Study design: This retrospective cohort study included administrative claims data from 46,139 White and 17,297 Black women with uterine fibroids and heavy menstrual bleeding from the Optum Clinformatics database (January 2011-December 2020) and 7353 White and 16,776 Black women from the IBM MarketScan Multi-State Medicaid Insurance database (January 2010-December 2019). Patients were indexed at their initial uterine fibroid diagnosis claim and were required to have a claim for heavy menstrual bleeding and ≥12 months of continuous enrollment pre- and postindex. Patients were followed until the earliest of death, disenrollment, hysterectomy date, or end of study database. Outcomes were stratified by race and included patient demographics, clinical characteristics, pharmacologic treatment patterns, and surgeries/procedures. Pearson's Chi-square test for categorical variables and Student's t-test for continuous data were used to evaluate differences in baseline characteristics. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize treatment pathways for hormonal contraceptive use in women with ≥24 months of follow-up. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to estimate time until hysterectomy, with log-rank testing to assess between-group differences.

Results: The mean (standard deviation) duration of follow-up was 44.6 (27.9) and 41.0 (24.9) months in the commercial and Medicaid databases, respectively. Mean (standard deviation) age at uterine fibroid diagnosis was lower for Black than White women in both databases (commercial: 42.3 [6.5] vs 44.4 [6.3] years; P<.0001; Medicaid: 39.6 [7.1] years vs 40.2 [7.2] years; P<.0001). Anemia was more prevalent in Black vs White women in both databases (commercial: 5.9% [1028/17,297] vs 3.6% [1648/46,139]; P<.0001; Medicaid: 7.0% [1180/16,776] vs 4.5% [331/7353]; P<.0001). In the commercial database, approximately one-half of women had claims for ≥1 bulk symptom, with no significant differences between groups. In the Medicaid database, significantly more White than Black women had claims for bulk symptoms (77.0% [5665/7353] vs 68.4% [11,477/16,776]; P<.0001). Approximately 40% of all patients received hormonal drug therapies as initial treatment, most commonly hormonal contraceptives. However, discontinuation of hormonal contraceptive therapy was nearly universal, with one-half discontinuing within a median treatment duration of ∼5 months. Most women stopped treatment after 1 or 2 agents (commercial: White, 89.9% [9757/10,857]; Black, 90.0% [3594/3993]; Medicaid: White, 92.2% [1635/1773]; Black, 94.2% [4454/4726]). Hysterectomy was the most common procedure, and was more common among White vs Black women (commercial: 43.9% [20,235/46,139] vs 37.8% [6536/17,297]; Medicaid: 46.8% [3444/7353] vs 32.0% [5364/16,776]).

Conclusions: Black women with UF-HMB were diagnosed at a younger age than White women, and White women had higher hysterectomy rates than Black women, representing a shift from earlier researched treatment patterns. Patients with UF-HMB were also highly reliant on hormonal contraceptives, followed by nearly universal therapeutic discontinuation.