Psychosocial Impact of Hysterectomies on Patients in the Post Operative Period: A Systemic Review

Objective: To evaluate and gather all the recent knowledge, research, theories and information on the emotional and physical outcomes of hysterectomies on female patients in the post operative period.

Setting: Department of obstetrics and gynecology Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar KPK.

Design: A Systemic review of current medical literature on the topic using google scholar, PubMed, science direct and Medline as search engines was conducted. Special consideration was given to the psychosocial impact of hysterectomy on the quality of life in patients and weigh out the benefits and disadvantages of carrying out this procedure for benign diseases.

Results: Premenopausal women who are young and un married have temporary depression problems, but no anxiety, following hysterectomy as compared to post-menopausal women with completed families irrespective of the type of procedure performed. However, overall, these adverse outcomes are very minimal (only seen in a subgroup of women, 10% to 20%) and proper counselling from clinicians, gynecologists, psychologists and most importantly from the partner is paramount in achieving healthy mental and emotional results in the post-operative period.

Conclusion: Patients who undergo hysterectomies for various indications report betterment or no significant changes in their psychosocial behavior mainly because of improvement in their gynecological symptoms and quality of life in the long run. Further research is needed on the topic to establish which patients benefit the most and which patients do not.