Design: Quantitative survey

Setting: Outpatient fibroid clinic at a large academic medical center

Patients or Participants: New patients, aged 18 years or older, with known uterine fibroids were surveyed between October 2023 and April 2024 (n=63).

Interventions: Data was collected on demographics, fibroid symptoms, types of providers seen, and knowledge and perspectives on treatment options via a web-based survey.

Measurements and Main Results: Responses from 48 completed surveys were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The mean age of our sample was 41.48 years (range 26-58). Participants were predominately self-identified Black patients (54%), with at least a college degree (71%). Participants had previously discussed their fibroids with obstetrician/gynecologists (88%), primary care providers (38%), and advanced practice providers (39%). Most were aware of surgical options including hysterectomy (63%) and myomectomy (60%), however less than half were aware of hormonal (35%), embolization (40%), or ultrasound-guided ablation (25%) techniques for symptomatic management of fibroids. Notably, awareness of ultrasound-guided ablation techniques was lower among Black women (19%) compared with White women (37%). Participants were generally neutral or unsure about whether non-surgical procedures were an effective long-term management option for fibroids. White women were more likely to report that non-surgical options aimed at shrinking fibroids had a high success rate compared with Black women. No differences were observed by level of educational attainment.

Conclusion: In our preliminary analysis, patients with fibroids had low awareness about non-surgical management options. These results were more pronounced among Black women. Respondents also had neutral to low knowledge about whether non-surgical options could be effective in the long-term management of their symptomatic fibroids. These findings suggest gaps in patient-provider communication and provide new opportunities for clinicians to evaluate their approaches to fibroids management counseling.