A routine surgery performed on hundreds of thousands of American women every year now carries a new warning: a measurably higher risk of developing diabetes years later.
Quick Take
- A French study of 82,472 women found a 23% higher diabetes risk when both the uterus and ovaries were removed together.
- A U.S. study of 67,130 women found a 13% higher diabetes risk after hysterectomy, whether or not the ovaries came out too.
- A Korean study of nearly 35,000 women found hysterectomy alone raised diabetes risk by 37%.
- Removing the uterus itself, not just the ovaries, keeps showing up as the common thread across these studies.
The Numbers Behind the 23% Figure
Researchers tracking 82,472 French women recorded 2,318 new cases of type 2 diabetes over the study period. Women who had both their uterus and ovaries removed faced a 23% higher risk of developing diabetes compared to women who kept both organs. That number became the headline figure driving renewed attention to a surgery most women assume only affects reproduction, not blood sugar control.
The same French data carried a twist most coverage glossed over. Hysterectomy by itself, without removing the ovaries, showed no statistically significant link to diabetes in that analysis. Neither did ovary removal alone. The elevated risk only appeared when both procedures happened together, a detail that matters for anyone trying to understand their own surgical history.
A Pattern Showing Up Across Countries
This is not an isolated finding. A separate American study followed 67,130 women for more than 13 years and found diabetes in 12.5% of women who had a hysterectomy, compared to 10.32% of those who did not. That works out to a 13% higher risk, and it held true regardless of whether the ovaries were also removed.
A Korean research team studied 7,088 women after hysterectomy alongside 27,845 women who never had the surgery. After roughly seven years, diabetes showed up at a rate of 9.12 per 1,000 person-years in the surgery group versus 6.78 in the comparison group, a 37% jump in adjusted risk. A fourth U.S. analysis of reproductive history found a similar 17% elevated risk tied to hysterectomy or oophorectomy even after accounting for body weight in midlife.
What’s Still Unclear, and What Women Should Know
Scientists still don’t agree on exactly why ovary removal changes the picture in some studies but not others. The leading theory points to estrogen. Ovaries produce the hormone, and sudden estrogen loss has long been tied to insulin resistance and weight gain around the midsection. But the Korean study found oophorectomy did not significantly change diabetes risk among women who already had a hysterectomy, muddying that explanation. These findings show a link, not proof that the surgery itself causes diabetes, since women who need hysterectomies often have other health conditions that could independently raise their risk.
None of this means women facing fibroids, endometriosis, or cancer should second-guess a doctor’s recommendation. Hysterectomy remains one of the most common and often necessary surgeries in women’s health. What it does mean is that women and their doctors now have real data to weigh when discussing long-term follow-up, including blood sugar screening years after surgery. Informed decisions, not fear, should guide that conversation.
Sources:
mindbodygreen.com, academic.oup.com, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
