Uterine Fibroids Are Linked to a Much Higher Risk of Heart Disease. Most Women Don’t Know.
A study of nearly three million women found that those diagnosed with uterine fibroids had an 81% higher risk of developing heart disease compared to women without the condition. The increased risk held across races and ages. In women under 40, it was even starker: their risk was roughly 3.5 times higher.
Fibroids are among the most common conditions affecting women of reproductive age. Up to 80% of women will have them by age 50. They are rarely framed as a cardiovascular concern.
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Researchers found that fibroids and cardiovascular disease share some biological pathways, including the growth of smooth muscle cells, excessive buildup of fibrous connective tissue, calcification, and inflammatory responses. The hypothesis is not that fibroids cause heart disease directly, but that the two conditions may share underlying mechanisms, and that a fibroid diagnosis may be an early signal worth acting on.
The implications for care are significant. Women with fibroids are typically followed by gynecologists who focus on reproductive outcomes. Cardiologists, if they enter the picture at all, usually do so decades later. This study suggests the gap between those two conversations may be costing women something.
The racial dimension deserves attention. Black women are diagnosed with fibroids at roughly two to three times the rate of white women, develop them earlier, and tend to have more severe symptoms. They also face higher rates of cardiovascular disease. Whether these disparities compound in the way the study’s findings suggest is a question researchers say warrants its own investigation.
There are real limits to what this study can establish. It was observational, meaning it identified associations, not causes. The researchers acknowledged that shared risk factors, like chronic inflammation or hormonal patterns, could explain the link without fibroids themselves being a warning sign. Larger, more controlled studies are needed to confirm the relationship and understand what, if anything, should change in clinical practice.
But researchers were direct about the practical implication: women with fibroids may benefit from earlier, more consistent cardiovascular monitoring. Not because the diagnosis is a death sentence, but because the evidence now suggests it is information a woman’s cardiologist should probably have.
Source: Journal of the American Heart Association / American Heart Association, December 2025. Study of approximately 3 million women examining cardiovascular risk following uterine fibroid diagnosis.