Women with elevated blood pressure are at increased risk of developing fibroids, a new study shows.

“Hypertensive women were 24 percent more likely to develop clinically symptomatic fibroids than non-hypertensive women, and the risk increased with duration of hypertension,” Dr. Renee Boynton-Jarrett, of the Harvard School of Public Health told AMN Health.

Although fibroids are the most common gynecologic tumor and the second leading reason for hysterectomy in the US, the Boston-based researchers pointed out, “We have limited understanding of the factors that initiate and enhance fibroid development.”

In a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, Boynton-Jarrett and colleagues identified 7466 cases of fibroids over a 10-year period in more than 100,000 women participating in the Nurses’ Health Study II.

After factoring in age, race/ethnicity, weight, and reproductive history, the researchers found that for every 10-point increase in blood pressure, the risk of fibroids rose by 8 percent in those who did not take blood pressure -lowering medication and by 10 percent in those who did.

The findings make it “reasonable” to look into novel approaches to treating fibroids, Boynton-Jarrett concluded, “and to explore whether enhanced control of blood pressure, or early detection and treatment for hypertension leads to reductions in the incidence of fibroids or complications associated with fibroids.”

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SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, April 1, 2005.