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Abstract
Background
Pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) most commonly results from weakened or injured muscles and ligaments whose purpose is to support the pelvic floor. Many studies have placed vaginal delivery and prolonged second stage of labor (SSL) as major risk factors for PFD, supposedly through generating enhanced pressure in the pelvic area. Although many studies describe the effects of vaginal delivery and labor on structure and function of the pelvic floor, not much is known regarding PFD deriving from pregnancy and its prevalence and severity in the postpartum. We aimed to evaluate whether a correlation exists between PFD symptoms during pregnancy and the duration of the SSL.
Methods
We conducted a cross sectional study of 200 women who gave birth at Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel. Those who had consented completed the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory-20 (PFDI-20), a condition specific questionnaire developed to measure quality-of-life and the extent of injury to the pelvic floor in women with all forms of PFD. The duration of the SSL and clinical and obstetrical characteristics were retrieved from the participants’ medical records. We assessed correlations using Spearman’s correlation coefficient.
Results
PFD during pregnancy was found to be correlated to the duration of the SSL (R = −0.183, p = .021). When evaluating each component of the PFDI-20 separately, CRAD was significantly correlated with the duration of the SSL (R = −0.195, p = .014).
Conclusions
There is a correlation between PFD symptoms during pregnancy, specifically symptoms of CRAD and the duration of the SSL.
Acknowledgment
This article was written as part of the requirements to receive Medical Degree at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Joyce & Irving Goldman Medical School at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
Disclosure statement
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
The authors declare that no funding was received for the conduction of the study.
The authors declare that all research was conducted in accordance with the ethical standars of all applicable national and institutional committees and the World Medical Association’s Helsinki Declaration and tha no human expiremantation was performed.
The authors declare that no animals were involved in the study.