Abstract
Introduction and hypothesis
A variety of factors affect the amount of bother experienced by different women with equivalent pelvic organ prolapse (POP). The goal of this study was to describe the relationship between age and bother experienced from objectively equivalent stages of POP.
Methods
Records of all patients presenting to a pelvic floor subspecialty clinic between January 2014 and March 2015 were reviewed. Women with POP stage ≥ 2 were included. The level of bother experienced from prolapse symptoms was defined as the score on the validated Pelvic Organ Prolapse Distress Inventory (POPDI). Multiple linear regression was performed to examine the relationship between age and the POPDI score. A sample size of 150 patients was determined to have 80 % power to detect an effect of age equivalent to an increase in R2 of 0.05.
Results
A total of 229 charts were reviewed and 165 patients were included in the final analysis. The effect of age on prolapse bother in the entire population was quadratic (p = 0.0497). Women at both ends of the spectrum were less bothered by prolapse, whereas women in the 6th and 7th decades of life demonstrated the highest level of bother, irrespective of stage. This same quadratic relationship remained in women with stage 2 prolapse (p = 0.019).
Conclusions
Women in the 6th and 7th decades of life experience higher levels of bother from POP than older or younger women with the same stage of prolapse. This suggests that women in these decades of life might be at a higher risk for impairment of quality of life from POP.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barber M, Maher C. Epidemiology and outcome assessment of pelvic organ prolapse. Int Urogynecol J. 2013;24(11):1783–90.
Ghetti C, Skoczylas LC. The emotional burden of pelvic organ prolapse in women seeking treatment: a qualitative study. Female Pelvic Med Reconstr Surg. 2015;21(6):332–8.
Jelovsek JE, Barber MD. Women seeking treatment for advanced pelvic organ prolapse have decreased body image and quality of life. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2006;194:1455–61.
Boyles S, Weber A, Meyn L. Procedures for pelvic organ prolapse in the United States, 1979–1997. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2003;188(1):108–15.
Olsen AL, Smith VJ, Bergstrom JO, Colling JC, Clark AL. Epidemiology of surgically managed pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence. Obstet Gynecol. 1997;89(4):501–6.
Sullivan SA, Davidson E, Bretschneider EC, Liberty AL, Geller EJ. Patient characteristics associated with treatment choice for pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence. Int Urogynecol J. 2015;27:811–6.
Dunivan G, Cichowski S, Komesu Y, Fairchild P, Anger J, Rogers R. Ethnicity and variations of pelvic organ prolapse bother. Int Urogynecol J. 2013;25(1):53–9.
Barber MD, Walters MD, Bump RC. Short forms of two condition-specific quality-of-life questionnaires for women with pelvic floor disorders (PFDI-20 and PFIQ-7). Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2005;193(1):103–13.
Barber MD, Kuchibhatla MN, Pieper CF, Bump RC. Psychometric evaluation of 2 comprehensive condition-specific quality of life instruments for women with pelvic floor disorders. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2001;185(6):1388–95.
Agresti A. Categorical data analysis. 2nd ed. New York: Wiley; 2002.
Levine KB, Williams RE, Hartmann KE. Vulvovaginal atrophy is strongly associated with female sexual dysfunction among sexually active postmenopausal women. Menopause. 2008;15(4 Pt 1):661–6.
Swift SE, Tate SB, Nicholas J. Correlation of symptoms with degree of pelvic organ support in a general population of women: what is pelvic organ prolapse? Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2003;189:372–7.
Yong HH, Gibson SJ, De L, Horne DJ, Helme RD. Development of a pain attitudes questionnaire to assess stoicism and cautiousness for possible age differences. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2001;56(5):279–84.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Funding
No funding was received for this study.
Conflicts of interest
None.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kinman, C.L., Lemieux, C.A., Agrawal, A. et al. The relationship between age and pelvic organ prolapse bother. Int Urogynecol J 28, 751–755 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-016-3175-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-016-3175-5