Abstract
Introduction and hypothesis
To define the prevalence and incidence of pelvic/low back pain in patients with pelvic organ prolapse (POP).
Methods
Patients presenting for POP to three urogynecology centers in the US, UK, and Chile were enrolled in an IRB-approved cross-sectional study assessing pain, GU, GI and sexual function symptoms. For prevalence, symptoms were noted as present if the participant recorded the symptom and reported the degree of bother as “somewhat,” “a moderate amount,” or “a lot.” For incidence, participants were queried if the symptom’s onset concurred with the POP. We also queried if they perceived the symptom was worsened by their POP.
Results
Two hundred five participants were recruited: 100 from the US, 46 from the UK, and 59 from Chile. One US participant was excluded due a missing examination. The prevalence of pelvic pain was 42%. Seventy-three percent of these participants reported the onset of pelvic pain coinciding with prolapse onset, and 81% endorsed worsening pelvic pain with POP. The prevalence of low back pain was 46%, with 30% reporting the onset coincided with the onset of POP and 44% responded that prolapse worsened their pain.
Conclusion
A higher proportion of participants than expected endorsed pelvic/low back pain. Among patients with pelvic pain, the majority experienced symptom onset with POP onset and a worsening of pain with POP. While roughly half of participants reported low back pain; a minority correlated this to their POP. These findings highlight a high incidence of pelvic pain, challenging the perception of POP as a painless condition.
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Data Availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [KD], upon reasonable request.
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K Donaldson: Project development, Data analysis, Manuscript writing
J Meilan: Data collection
T Rivers: Data collection
K Rutherford: Data collection
K Shine: Data collection
V Manríquez: Project development, Data collection, Manuscript editing
GA Digesu: Project development, Data collection, Manuscript editing
A Edenfield: Project development, Data analysis, Manuscript editing
S Swift: Project development, Data analysis, Manuscript editing
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Donaldson, K., Meilan, J., Rivers, T. et al. The Incidence of Pelvic and Low Back Pain in Patients with Pelvic Organ Prolapse. Int Urogynecol J 35, 609–613 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-024-05732-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-024-05732-4