Abused women are more likely to have their ovaries removed, Mayo Clinic study finds [MinnPost.com]

Women who have suffered verbal, emotional or physical abuse are more likely to have their ovaries removed by their mid-40s for reasons unrelated to ovarian cancer than women without a history of abuse, according to a new study from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

This finding is troubling, for it suggests that women are undergoing unnecessary surgery that may put their health at risk.

“The ovaries weren’t only invented to make children. They are also an endocrine organ — a kind of gland — that secretes very important hormones,” said Dr. Walter Rocca, a neurologist and epidemiologist at the Mayo Clinic and the study’s senior author, in an interview with MinnPost. “And when you remove these organs, you stop the hormonal production.”

[For more of this story, written by Susan Perry, go to https://www.minnpost.com/secon...ayo-clinic-study-fin]