Henry Ford Health Researchers Aim to Find Out Why Black Women Suffer More from Uterine Fibroids

DETROIT-- Researchers from Henry Ford Health are teaming up with colleagues at Michigan Medicine and the Harvard Chan School of Public Health to study inequities around uterine fibroids, a painful condition that is three times more likely to affect Black women in the U.S. than White women.

"Uterine fibroids are the number one reason women have a hysterectomy in this country," said Dr. Ganesa Wegienka, lead researcher and senior staff scientist at Henry Ford Health.

"By the time they reach menopause more than 80% of Black women and approximately 70% of White women will have had uterine fibroids," Dr. Wegienka said. "Why does that matter? If you're younger, and you're having these fibroid tumors and need treatment, it may affect your family planning and shorten time for childbearing if you need a hysterectomy."

In addition to being more likely to develop the non-cancerous growths, research shows Black women develop fibroids at younger ages and experience larger and more painful fibroids.

A $7.8 million grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health will fund a joint research effort by researchers from the three institutions called Partnering for Equity: An Academic and Community Alliance to Eliminate Disparities throughout the Fibroid Experience, or PEACE.

"I have been doing this research for many years and I know that fibroids can devastate a person's quality of life. The impact is profound, both physically and emotionally, and we are committed to finding equitable and acceptable solutions," Dr. Wegienka said.

The hope is understanding these disparities will lead to improved, culturally competent healthcare interventions, better health outcomes, and treatments tailored to the specific needs of Black women.

Fibroids are tumors that grow in the wall of a woman's uterus, often during childbearing years. While noncancerous, they can cause severe symptoms such as heavy menstrual bleeding, pelvic pressure, pain during menstruation and intercourse, and anemia.

One person can have a single fibroid or a dozen.

"They can grow from the size of a pea to the size of a golf ball, a softball, and even a volleyball. That's very large when you think about a uterus being about the size of a fist," Dr. Wegienka said.

The reason for the racial disparity in fibroid frequency and severity is unclear, but hypotheses include vitamin D deficiency, ancestry, and delayed reporting due to mistrust in the healthcare system after generations of medical racism.

The joint research effort includes three studies. One will assess Medicaid claims data to help with understanding care patterns and how they differ between Black and White patients. Another evaluates lifetime stress in a cohort of Black patients that researchers have been following for 15 years. The third project will explain the findings of a national survey about uterine fibroids and individual wishes for care and care experiences.

PEACE will focus on finding the reasons why fibroid development, growth, and treatment experiences vary between Black and White women.

"We are trying to understand differences in care wishes as well as design a tool that can be used to help facilitate communication between patients and providers so that patients with fibroids get the care they want and need," Wegienka said.

Wegienka will lead the research along with Dr. Erica Marsh, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Michigan Medical School and chief of the division of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at U-M Health Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital; David R. Williams, Ph.D., the Florence & Laura Norman Professor of Public Health, and chair of the Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; and Tanika Gray-Valbrun, founder and CEO of The White Dress Project, a national patient advocacy organization dedicated to spreading awareness about the widespread occurrence and impacts of uterine fibroids.

Wegienka encourages those battling fibroids not to lose hope. "Be your own champion. You are not alone. This is a very common condition. And please know that we're working to do better."