National Utilization Trends of Inpatient Procedures for Symptomatic Uterine Fibroids and Adenomyosis: A 10-Year Analysis

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine changes in procedural utilization for symptomatic uterine fibroids and adenomyosis from 2011 to 2020.

Methods: An institutional review board-exempt retrospective study of the National Inpatient Sample database from 2011 to 2020 was performed using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, and International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, diagnosis and procedural codes for uterine fibroids, adenomyosis, hysterectomy, myomectomy, uterine artery embolization (UAE), and endometrial ablation. Patients with endometriosis, uterine cancer, placenta accreta spectrum, pelvic inflammatory disease, and uterine prolapse were excluded. Data were analyzed using statistical process control and χ² testing.

Results: A total of 247,476 inpatient procedures were identified in women with fibroids and/or adenomyosis. Of those patients with only uterine fibroids (n = 212,532), 77.9% underwent hysterectomy, 18.9% underwent myomectomy, and 2.8% underwent UAE. The utilization of UAE remained stable over the decade, whereas an increased prevalence of myomectomy was offset by a decrease in hysterectomy (2011 versus 2020: hysterectomy, 81.4% versus 73.7%; myomectomy, 15.4% versus 24.0%; UAE, 2.9% versus 2.0%). Regarding adenomyosis only (n = 16,073), more women underwent hysterectomy (98.1%) compared with UAE (1.1%), with minimal change in these procedures across the decade. For combined fibroids and adenomyosis (n = 18,871), hysterectomy was the most utilized procedure, with its utilization declining from 92.0% to 85.2% during the time period.

Conclusions: The utilization of hysterectomy remains the dominant inpatient procedural intervention for the treatment of uterine fibroids and adenomyosis, but the proportion of myomectomy in the setting of fibroids is increasing. Utilization of UAE did not change from 2011 to 2020, and it remains relatively underutilized despite initiatives to increase utilization.