By IANS
New Delhi : An estimated 25 million women in India are affected with fibroids, which is increasingly becoming common as many of them marry late, resulting in late pregnancies, or are red meat eaters and overweight, according to a latest study.
The research, which took 16 years to complete, also found that the problem transfers from a woman to her blood relative.
“During the course of our study we found that the diet, weight and hypertension had a bearing on the increase in fibroids among women in India,” said Prakash Trivedi, the scientific director of the National Institute of Laser and Endoscopic Surgery and Aakar IVF Centre in Mumbai, who conducted the research.
Fibroids are benign tumours, which grow from the muscle layers of the uterus. The growth affects women from the age of 18 to 50.
There is 20 times more possibility of a woman in her 40s to be affected with fibroids, said Trivedi, who is also the vice-president of the Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Society of India (FOGSI), an organisation which has a 22,000 doctors as its members.
“Fibroids are on the rise and is affecting around 25 million women in India. It occurs in 30-35 percent of women and the chances of getting it increase three times among red meat eaters as compared to vegetarians and overweight women,” he said after the study was released Tuesday at an event organised by FOGSI.
He said the incidences of fibroids have increased over the years because more and more women now marry at a later age and thus conceive late. “Conception has its benefits,” he added.
Women who use oral contraceptive are less vulnerable.
Fibroids are not cancerous and should be removed only if they hinder pregnancy or if a woman suffers from continuous pain or when it hurts a tissue.
“The surgery to remove the fibroids is quiet easy,” said Trivedi, who has designed a new technique for it ensuring that blood loss is less leading to speedier recovery.