Women's health research has shown a laparoscopic hysterectomy can leave females with a better quality of life four years on than an abdominal procedure.

The study involved questioning 59 random patients having the operation for benign indications.

Of these, 27 were scheduled for a laparoscopic hysterectomy and 32 were having abdominal surgery.

They were given the Dutch version of the Short Form 36 questionnaire, which provides a score out of 100 for quality of life.

The risk of uterine rupture increases with the number of caesarean sections a woman has had, as well as if labour is induced, maternal and newborn health research has shown.

A team led by Kathryn Fitzpatrick at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford in the UK analysed the incidence of this serious complication in Britain in the year to April 2010.