International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences | May 2020 | Vol 8 | Issue 5 Page 1689 International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences Gbaranor BK et al. Int J Res Med Sci. 2020 May;8(5):1689-1691 www.msjonline.org pISSN 2320-6071 | eISSN 2320-6012 Original Research Article Incidence of fibroid and its effects on fertility in Eleme local government area of Rivers State Barinua K. Gbaranor 1 , Clinton D. Orupabo 2 *, Nazor P. Barinua Gbaranor 3 , Peace E. Okpara 1 , Progress D. Victor 2 INTRODUCTION Fibroids or leiomyomata are benign tumours of the uterine smooth muscle and may be found at any anatomical location containing smooth muscle cells. 1,2 Uterine fibroids are common and affect 20-25% of all women aged 30 years and above. However a peak age group for clinically important fibroids is between 30-34 years. 1,3 Buttram 1986 in his research stated that Leiomyomas tend to be multiple and slow growing. 4 The various locations at which fibroids may be found are intramural, subserous, submucous, pedunculated, cervical, intraligamentary and parasitic. 1 Fibroids are surrounded by a pseudocapsule of alveolar tissue and have two large vessels to nourish the tumour. 4 The risk factors associated with fibroid include high maternal age, race which is 3-5x commoner in blacks, positive family history of fibroid, parity which is commoner in the nulliparous or low parity women, stress, diet, tobacco smoking and caffeine consumption as well as endogenous and exogenous hormonal factors. 5 Park and colleagues, 2008 also reported that estrogens may also stimulate the proliferation of leiomyoma cells by activating ATP sensitive potassium channels. 6 Though fibroids may not be direct cause of infertility in majority of cases, 2 to 3% of cases of infertility may be attributed to the effects of myomas with the exclusion of all other causes. 7-9 Hence the cause of infertility could be a consequence of the complications of the fibroid or the aftermath effects of surgery due to fibroid. Again 1 Department of Human Physiology, 2 Department of Human Anatomy, College of Medical Sciences, Rivers State University, Nkpolu-Oroworukwo, Port Harcourt, Nigeria 3 Department of Office and Information Management, Faculty of Management Sciences, Rivers State University, Nkpolu- Oroworukwo, Port Harcourt, Nigeria Received: 02 March 2020 Accepted: 27 March 2020 *Correspondence: Dr. Clinton D. Orupabo, E-mail: clinton.orupabo@ust.edu.ng Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Background: Fibroid is a gynaecological problem that affects women of reproductive age across the globe especially among the black race. This study was done to evaluate the incidence of fibroid and its effects on fertility in Eleme Local Government Area. Methods: It is a cross-sectional study with 60 participants aged 18-28 years, 29-39 years, 40-49 years, 50-59 years and >60 years. Results: The study revealed that 90% of the respondents have fibroid and 10% do not have fibroid. The effects range from painful menstruation, heavy menses, irregular menstruation and infertility at the values of 63.3%, 48.3%, 51.7% and 86.8% respectively. Conclusions: Though the effects of fibroids are universal, our study population seems to show some effects more common to them. Keywords: Effects, Fibroid, Fertility, Incidence DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20201910