RALEIGH, N.C. — The National Institutes of Health estimates about 80% of women will develop uterine fibroids by the age of 50.

July is Fibroid Awareness Month.

Fibroids are noncancerous tumors that grow inside a woman’s uterus. They can be the size of a grape or lemon, and in some cases they cause women to look like they are pregnant.

Dr. Syreeta Tucker, a board-certified OB-GYN said fibroids are a significant issue for all women, especially African Americans.

Researchers say Black women are hit the hardest by fibroids and diagnosed three times as frequently compared to white women.

Doctors say African American women also suffer from more severe symptoms.

“There’s lots of research going on to see why this affects African American women predominately. Some theories include vitamin D deficiencies since we have darker skin. There’s some who are trying to figure out if it is linked to hair relaxers, which are being studied right now because there’s a product in hair relaxers that are hormone-activating products, which can cause issues. It’s also possibly believed to be related to diet and more processed foods, increased stress, and a lot of this is believed to linked to socio economics as well,” Tucker said.

The symptoms of fibroids include heavy bleeding when on menstrual cycles, pelvic pain, painful intercourse, prolonged periods and in some cases, there are no symptoms.

Tucker said more research is needed, and there are options for women seeking treatments to improve their symptoms and remove the fibroids.

“They do have medication specifically for fibroids or birth control pills and then next steps would be surgical intervention outside of a hysterectomy or myomectomy, which is removal of your fibroids. There are non-invasive options where you can target the fibroid, cut off the blood supply. There’s also new research out there for gene therapy for fibroids as well,” Tucker explained.