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Ovarian removal is not associated with an increased risk of death
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Women who have their uterus removed during a hysterectomy often have their ovaries removed. Until now, scientists have assumed that removing both of a woman’s ovaries increases the patient’s risk of dying from diseases associated with premature aging. But a major new study has shown that the procedure may be safe.
The ovaries synthesize the main female hormones - estrogens, which regulate menstrual function. Removal of the ovaries almost immediately leads to the development of menopause.
Katherine Henderson, the study's author and an associate professor at the National Institutes of Health in California, said the study was designed to determine whether having both ovaries removed increases the risk of death, including from heart disease, cancer and other causes.
"In some groups of women, such as those with a history of breast or ovarian cancer, there is a benefit to early menopause," Henderson said. "However, in most cases, we don't know what the health effects of early menopause are."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2007, 20,000 American women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and nearly 15,000 died from the disease.
According to Henderson's research, 600,000 hysterectomies were performed between 2000 and 2004. In more than half of the cases, the ovaries were also removed.
Analyzing data from more than 130,000 people, scientists found that women aged 45 and older who had both ovaries removed were just as likely to die as women who did not have the procedure.
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