OBJECTIVE: To delineate the health profile of hysterectomized women and to assess whether women who have undergone hysterectomy have a different health profile even before surgery. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The WHILA project covers all women (n = 10,766) aged 50-60, living in the Lund area and are based on questionnaires and personal interviews tied to laboratory examinations. RESULTS: 6917 women (64.2%) had complete questionnaires and laboratory tests, 800 were hysterectomized (11.6%). Logistic regression analysis revealed that hysterectomized women had more "dizziness" 1.40 (1.19-1.66), "nervous problems" 1.29 (1.07-1.56), "backache" 1.37 (1.16-1.62), "joint problems" 1.29 (1.09-1.52), "eye problem" 1.20 (1.02-1.42) and "headache" 1.17 (1.00-1.37). For both somatic (5.22 versus 4.49 mean value, p