Like many Black women, I have uterine fibroids: benign, non-cancerous growths that develop in and around the womb (approximately 80% of Black women will suffer from fibroids by the age of 50). Fibroids don’t always cause symptoms, although many people, like me, experience unbearable abdominal and back pain, and heavy and painful periods (known as menorrhagia) that last longer and are more frequent than average. Much like conditions such as endometriosis and PCOS, there is a high risk of developing iron deficiency anemia due to the heavy loss of menstrual blood. Pregnant women are also especially at risk. Black women are 50% more likely to develop iron deficiency anemia compared to other races due to the disproportionately high prevalence of fibroids. Various researchers have attributed this to high exposure to hormone-disrupting chemicals in Black beauty products, vitamin D deficiencies, dietary factors and elevated stress levels yet there is no single determining factor and, well, no one really knows why. Learning that additional factors such as systemic healthcare disparities and the under-diagnosis or delayed treatment of reproductive health issues may contribute to this heightened risk has been a hard pill to swallow.
