The integrative health status of women with uterine fibroids wishing to maintain fertility: a cross-sectional study based on Levine's conservation model.

The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show whether fibroids caused fatigue, sexual dysfunction, anxiety or loneliness, or whether any factor caused another. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling from four online gynecological disease communities, so they may have been more motivated to seek information or discuss sexual health than women seen in clinics. Fibroid diagnoses, treatment histories and symptom data were self-reported and not verified against medical records, which may introduce recall bias. No intervention was tested, so the study does not show that fatigue management, counseling, yoga, Pilates or online education improves outcomes in this population.

One author, ChaeWeon Chung, has been editor of Women's Health Nursing since January 2020 and was not involved in the review process. Funding came from a 2024 Graduate Student Research Grant from the Research Institute of Nursing Science, Seoul National University, and financial support from the Seoul Nurses Association (No. 650). The authors declared no other conflict of interest.

Do not conclude that fibroids cause fatigue, sexual dysfunction, anxiety or loneliness, or that fatigue management or nursing education will improve fertility. The survey measured women at one time, used self-reported diagnoses and did not test an intervention.