Effect of Surveillance on the Number of Hysterectomies in the Province of Saskatchewan

In 1972 the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan appointed a committee to study hysterectomies because the Saskatchewan Department of Health had data showing that the annual number of hysterectomies carried out in the province had increased by 72.1 per cent between 1964 and 1971, whereas the number of women over 15 years of age had increased by 7.6 per cent. The committee compiled a list of indications for hysterectomy. Any hysterectomy carried out for one of these reasons was classified as justified, and the remainder as unjustified. Five hospitals were reviewed in 1970 and a further two in 1973. In 1974, all seven hospitals were reviewed again. In these hospitals, the average proportion of unjustified hysterectomies had dropped from 23.7 per cent at the time of the first review to 7.8 per cent in 1974. The total number of hysterectomies in the province dropped by 32.8 per cent between 1970 and 1974.