Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsSelf-CheckPhysical ExaminationLabs and TestsImagingDifferential DiagnosisEffect on Black WomenAccess to CareFrequently Asked QuestionsNext in Uterine Fibroids GuideHow Uterine Fibroids Are Treated
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Self-Check
Physical Examination
Labs and Tests
Imaging
Differential Diagnosis
Effect on Black Women
Access to Care
Frequently Asked Questions
Next in Uterine Fibroids Guide
This article is part ofUterine Fibroids and Black Women, a destination in our Health Divide series.
Most uterine fibroids go unnoticed. Asymptomatic women usually find out that they have fibroids during a routine gynecological exam or while getting imaging for an unrelated medical condition.
Black women—who are three times more likely than women of other races to develop fibroids—often develop fibroids at earlier ages and are more symptomatic.
An official diagnosis is made based on your symptoms and a physical exam. If your healthcare provider suspects that you might have fibroids, they may refer you to a lab or local hospital for further tests to confirm a diagnosis or rule out other possible causes of your symptoms. These tests include an ultrasound, a complete blood count, and a urine sample.
This article discusses the various ways to diagnose uterine fibroids.
Andrey Popov / Getty Images
Uterine fibroids vary in size and symptoms. Uterine fibroids can go unnoticed or dramatically affect your life. If you are experiencing the following symptoms, you may question if you have uterine fibroids:
Black Women and FibroidsBlack women with fibroids often have periods that last longer than the normal three to five days—sometimes as long as seven days. Periods can also be very heavy, requiring changing sanitary protection frequently.
Black Women and Fibroids
Black women with fibroids often have periods that last longer than the normal three to five days—sometimes as long as seven days. Periods can also be very heavy, requiring changing sanitary protection frequently.
Fibroids are sometimes found on a physical examination when a healthcare provider feels a firm, irregular, and often painless lump during an abdominal or pelvic exam. A pelvic exam is important to determine the size of the uterus.
Depending on your symptoms, the initial evaluation may begin with a blood test evaluating nonstructural causes of your symptoms. Your blood test may test for:
If there is a suspicion of cancer, an endometrial biopsy may be taken. A biopsy is more likely in postmenopausal women and women more than 40 years old who experience abnormal uterine bleeding.
Unless someone has symptoms, it is likely they do not know they have uterine fibroids. Fibroids are found in asymptomatic women during a routine physical examination, after which they may be asked to undergo imaging soon after to help diagnose the condition, or incidentally during imaging.
Some common types of imaging technology are:
Fibroids are benign tumors that are rarely premalignant or precancerous. There are many medical conditions that mimic uterine fibroids. Below are the most common ones:
The burden of uterine fibroids on Black women is well documented.
Black women are almost three times more likely than White women to experience fibroids in their lifetime and tend to experience fibroids at a younger age and often more severely. Because Black women suffer fibroids at an earlier age, they also are two to three times more likely to undergo surgery.
Julie Bang / Verywell
While there is no specific cause for them, a diagnosis of uterine fibroids may be an opportunity to take control of your overall health. Control what you can control; even before you see a doctor, you can manage risk factors like diet, exercise, blood pressure, and stress. Doing so has been shown to stop the growth and development of uterine fibroids.
A national survey found that Black women are more likely to wait four or more years to seek a diagnosis.
Barriers to Black Women Receiving CareBarriers that stand in the way of Black women receiving care include:Lack of insuranceMedical mistrust due to the medical establishment’s long history of mistreating Black AmericansNormalization of pain
Barriers to Black Women Receiving Care
Barriers that stand in the way of Black women receiving care include:Lack of insuranceMedical mistrust due to the medical establishment’s long history of mistreating Black AmericansNormalization of pain
Barriers that stand in the way of Black women receiving care include:
Why Black women experience a disproportionate fibroid burden is a complicated question with a lot of potential answers, including:
These factors are not easy to change, but what we know is that the barriers to care are too many, forcing many Black women to suffer in silence, and that needs to change.
More inclusive research is one way to do that. Another is to Increase the awareness of medical professionals about how their own biases may affect the care they are giving to Black people.
What are the symptoms of uterine fibroids?
Common uterine fibroid symptoms include:
Why are Black women more likely to be diagnosed with uterine fibroids?
The reasons why Black women get fibroids more frequently than White women are unclear, but new research offers some clues. Fibroids have been associated with the following risk factors:
A Word From Verywell
If you are experiencing symptoms, see a healthcare professional as soon as you can. You do not have to live in pain. An OB-GYN can help you come up with a plan that includes medical management, lifestyle changes, and possibly surgery or other medical procedures that can reduce your symptoms and increase your quality of life.
10 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Eltoukhi HM, Modi MN, Weston M, Armstrong AY, Stewart EA.The health disparities of uterine fibroid tumors for African American women: a public health issue.American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2014;210(3):194-199. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2013.08.008Stewart EA, Nicholson WK, Bradley L, Borah BJ.The burden of uterine fibroids for African-American women: results of a national survey.J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2013;22(10):807-816. doi:10.1089/jwh.2013.4334Kim MH, Park YR, Lim DJ, et al.The relationship between thyroid nodules and uterine fibroids. Endocr J. 2010;57(7):615-621. doi:10.1507/endocrj.k10e-024Upreti R, Dray M, Elston MS.Uterine fibroid causing hyperprolactinemia and paradoxical prolactin rise with dopamine agonist: case report and systematic review. SN Compr Clin Med. 2020;2(4):464-467. doi:10.1007/s42399-020-00248-6NIH.How uterine fibroids are diagnosed.Vilos GA, Allaire C, Laberge PY, et al.The management of uterine leiomyomas.J Obstet Gynaecol Can. 2015;37(2):157–181. doi:10.1016/S1701-2163(15)30338-8Donnez J, Dolmans MM.Uterine fibroid management: from the present to the future.Hum Reprod Update. 2016 Nov;22(6):665-686. doi:1093/humupd/dmw023De La Cruz, M.S.; Buchanan, E.M.; Uterine Fibroids:Diagnosis and treatment.Am Fam Physician. 95(2):100-107.Holzmann C, Saager C, Mechtersheimer G, Koczan D, Helmke BM, Bullerdiek J.Malignant transformation of uterine leiomyoma to myxoid leiomyosarcoma after morcellation associated with ALK rearrangement and loss of 14q.Oncotarget. 2018;9(45):27595-27604. doi:10.18632/oncotarget.25137The Commonwealth Fund.Understanding and ameliorating medical mistrust among Black Americans.
10 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Eltoukhi HM, Modi MN, Weston M, Armstrong AY, Stewart EA.The health disparities of uterine fibroid tumors for African American women: a public health issue.American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2014;210(3):194-199. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2013.08.008Stewart EA, Nicholson WK, Bradley L, Borah BJ.The burden of uterine fibroids for African-American women: results of a national survey.J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2013;22(10):807-816. doi:10.1089/jwh.2013.4334Kim MH, Park YR, Lim DJ, et al.The relationship between thyroid nodules and uterine fibroids. Endocr J. 2010;57(7):615-621. doi:10.1507/endocrj.k10e-024Upreti R, Dray M, Elston MS.Uterine fibroid causing hyperprolactinemia and paradoxical prolactin rise with dopamine agonist: case report and systematic review. SN Compr Clin Med. 2020;2(4):464-467. doi:10.1007/s42399-020-00248-6NIH.How uterine fibroids are diagnosed.Vilos GA, Allaire C, Laberge PY, et al.The management of uterine leiomyomas.J Obstet Gynaecol Can. 2015;37(2):157–181. doi:10.1016/S1701-2163(15)30338-8Donnez J, Dolmans MM.Uterine fibroid management: from the present to the future.Hum Reprod Update. 2016 Nov;22(6):665-686. doi:1093/humupd/dmw023De La Cruz, M.S.; Buchanan, E.M.; Uterine Fibroids:Diagnosis and treatment.Am Fam Physician. 95(2):100-107.Holzmann C, Saager C, Mechtersheimer G, Koczan D, Helmke BM, Bullerdiek J.Malignant transformation of uterine leiomyoma to myxoid leiomyosarcoma after morcellation associated with ALK rearrangement and loss of 14q.Oncotarget. 2018;9(45):27595-27604. doi:10.18632/oncotarget.25137The Commonwealth Fund.Understanding and ameliorating medical mistrust among Black Americans.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Eltoukhi HM, Modi MN, Weston M, Armstrong AY, Stewart EA.The health disparities of uterine fibroid tumors for African American women: a public health issue.American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2014;210(3):194-199. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2013.08.008Stewart EA, Nicholson WK, Bradley L, Borah BJ.The burden of uterine fibroids for African-American women: results of a national survey.J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2013;22(10):807-816. doi:10.1089/jwh.2013.4334Kim MH, Park YR, Lim DJ, et al.The relationship between thyroid nodules and uterine fibroids. Endocr J. 2010;57(7):615-621. doi:10.1507/endocrj.k10e-024Upreti R, Dray M, Elston MS.Uterine fibroid causing hyperprolactinemia and paradoxical prolactin rise with dopamine agonist: case report and systematic review. SN Compr Clin Med. 2020;2(4):464-467. doi:10.1007/s42399-020-00248-6NIH.How uterine fibroids are diagnosed.Vilos GA, Allaire C, Laberge PY, et al.The management of uterine leiomyomas.J Obstet Gynaecol Can. 2015;37(2):157–181. doi:10.1016/S1701-2163(15)30338-8Donnez J, Dolmans MM.Uterine fibroid management: from the present to the future.Hum Reprod Update. 2016 Nov;22(6):665-686. doi:1093/humupd/dmw023De La Cruz, M.S.; Buchanan, E.M.; Uterine Fibroids:Diagnosis and treatment.Am Fam Physician. 95(2):100-107.Holzmann C, Saager C, Mechtersheimer G, Koczan D, Helmke BM, Bullerdiek J.Malignant transformation of uterine leiomyoma to myxoid leiomyosarcoma after morcellation associated with ALK rearrangement and loss of 14q.Oncotarget. 2018;9(45):27595-27604. doi:10.18632/oncotarget.25137The Commonwealth Fund.Understanding and ameliorating medical mistrust among Black Americans.
Eltoukhi HM, Modi MN, Weston M, Armstrong AY, Stewart EA.The health disparities of uterine fibroid tumors for African American women: a public health issue.American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2014;210(3):194-199. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2013.08.008
Stewart EA, Nicholson WK, Bradley L, Borah BJ.The burden of uterine fibroids for African-American women: results of a national survey.J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2013;22(10):807-816. doi:10.1089/jwh.2013.4334
Kim MH, Park YR, Lim DJ, et al.The relationship between thyroid nodules and uterine fibroids. Endocr J. 2010;57(7):615-621. doi:10.1507/endocrj.k10e-024
Upreti R, Dray M, Elston MS.Uterine fibroid causing hyperprolactinemia and paradoxical prolactin rise with dopamine agonist: case report and systematic review. SN Compr Clin Med. 2020;2(4):464-467. doi:10.1007/s42399-020-00248-6
NIH.How uterine fibroids are diagnosed.
Vilos GA, Allaire C, Laberge PY, et al.The management of uterine leiomyomas.J Obstet Gynaecol Can. 2015;37(2):157–181. doi:10.1016/S1701-2163(15)30338-8
Donnez J, Dolmans MM.Uterine fibroid management: from the present to the future.Hum Reprod Update. 2016 Nov;22(6):665-686. doi:1093/humupd/dmw023
De La Cruz, M.S.; Buchanan, E.M.; Uterine Fibroids:Diagnosis and treatment.Am Fam Physician. 95(2):100-107.
Holzmann C, Saager C, Mechtersheimer G, Koczan D, Helmke BM, Bullerdiek J.Malignant transformation of uterine leiomyoma to myxoid leiomyosarcoma after morcellation associated with ALK rearrangement and loss of 14q.Oncotarget. 2018;9(45):27595-27604. doi:10.18632/oncotarget.25137
The Commonwealth Fund.Understanding and ameliorating medical mistrust among Black Americans.
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