Hysterectomy increases the symptomatology of postmenopausal syndrome.

The purpose of our investigation was to verify whether or not women who have undergone hysterectomy react differently to the menopause compared with women who have not. The study was performed in a prospective documentation on 203 women, and the assessments of discomforts were provided by the patients themselves using questionnaires. For statistical purposes, the Mann-Whitney test and chi 2 test were used. In both groups of patients--with and without hysterectomy--a determination was made concerning the significance of differences in the degree of intensity of problems: breast tension (p < 0.05), muscle pains (p < 0.05), palpitations (p < 0.05) and dizziness (p < 0.01). Concerning the frequency of climacteric symptoms, a significant difference was noted for urogenital ailments. While only 29.6% of women who had not been operated on complained about discomfort caused by atrophy of the urogenital tract, the number of women with such discomfort who had had a hysterectomy was 42.6% (p < 0.01). In other words, women who underwent hysterectomy suffered more discomfort and showed frequent symptoms of urogenital atrophy.