Abstract: Background: Uterine fibroids are common gynecological condition affecting reproductive age women. Although fibroids are considered benign, they are a cause of major quality-of-life issues for women in their reproductive age.
Objectives: To determine the prevalence, pattern of presentations and management outcomes of uterine fibroids over a 5-year period.
Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective review of the prevalence, clinical presentations and outcome of management of uterine fibroid over a 5-year period (between January 1st 2017 and 31st December 2021) at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH). The case files of women who were managed for uterine fibroid during this period were obtained from the hospital’s Health Record department to extract relevant information. The social, demographic and clinical data of the subjects were extracted using a designed proforma. The outcome measures included the prevalence, clinical presentations and management outcomes of uterine fibroids. Data was analysed using the SPSS 26.0 IBM Corporation.
Results: The prevalence of uterine fibroids was 10.7% of all gynaecological cases that presented to the clinic. Participants, mean age was 39.11 ±7.01 years, most (75.4%) being nulliparous. Abdominal swelling was the commonest (62.3%) pattern of presentation and most of the subjects presented late with mean duration of symptoms of 38.2±9.82 months. Surgery was the commonest method of treatment with myomectomy being the modality used in 86.5% of subjects. The common postoperative complications were anemia which was reported in 15.2% of the subjects.
Conclusion: Uterine fibroids prevalence in this review of 10.66% is high and so also is the associated complications. The symptoms correlate with delayed presentations common in our locality. Surgical management comprising predominantly myomectomy and hysterectomy remained the commonest treatment option in our environment.
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