Heart disease risk 81% higher for women with uterine fibroids, study finds

A large, 10-year study found that women with uterine fibroids, or leiomyomas, had an 81% higher long-term risk of heart disease than those without the condition.

Heart disease has long been the top killer of women in the United States, but new research suggests uterine fibroids, which many may not even be aware they have, could be putting them at a significantly greater risk.

A large, 10-year study found that women with leiomyomas had an 81% higher long-term risk of heart disease than those without the common condition. Women with fibroids — generally benign tumors that can form on or in the uterus — also had higher individual risks of cerebrovascular, coronary artery and peripheral artery diseases a decade after diagnosis.

The study involved more than 2.7 million U.S. women and was led by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. It was published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

“We do hope that our study adds to this growing evidence that reproductive health may provide important insights into cardiovascular health,” said lead author Julia DiTosto, a doctoral candidate in epidemiology at Penn. “There is a need for more information on how exactly, biologically, these conditions are related and also identifying potential strategies for cardiovascular prevention.”

Fibroids are a vastly underfunded area of women’s health research. In 2024, the National Institutes of Health awarded $17 million toward the study of fibroids, up from $14 million in 2023. By comparison, NIH records show $28 million went to endometriosis, $59 million to menopause and $740 million to breast cancer. Previous studies on fibroids and heart disease were “sparse and inconclusive,” DiTosto and her co-authors wrote.