Temporal and regional variation in hysterectomy rates in the United States, 1970--1975.

Regional hysterectomy rates in the United States for 1970 and 1975 have been estimated from a one per cent sample of hospital discharges. All rates have been corrected for the number of women truly at risk, that is, with uteri intact, and regional and age-specific estimates of uterine prevalence in 1975 are provided. The rates rose by one-third in 1970-1975, with the increase taking place nearly uniformly over all ages below 65 years. Rates were greatest for 40--44-year-old women, but in 1970 there was a secondary peak for women between the ages of 65 and 69 years. That peak disappeared with rising rates for younger women in 1975. For women under age 35 years, the hysterectomy rate in the South was three times higher than that in the Northeast.