Surgery for pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence and female sexual functions: A quasi-experimental study

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the effect of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and/or stress urinary incontinence (SUI) on various domains of female sexual functions in patients before and after reconstructive surgery for these pelvic floor disorders.
 Methods: We conducted a quasi-experimental study of 126 women aged 25-65 years, presenting with POP / SUI, from January 1st 2019 to December 31st 2019 at Aga Khan University Hospital. POP surgery was performed only in patients with symptomatic POP ≥ stage 2 according to POP-Q (quantification). Sexual functions were assessed using Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) questionnaire, among sexually active women at baseline and 18 months after surgery.
 Results: Mean age of the participants was 51.6, with a mean parity of four. Out of 126 patients, 31 patients underwent vaginal hysterectomy, pelvic floor repair and mid-urethral sling (MUS), 55 had vaginal hysterectomy with pelvic floor repair, 12 women had only pelvic floor repair and 10 patients had uterine suspension surgery for prolapse, while 18 patients underwent MUS operation alone for SUI. There was a statistically significant difference in female sexual functions after surgery for POP and/or SUI (p<0.01). This improvement was observed in both total and individual scores of each domain of FSFI with an overall improvement in sexual function from a mean of 18.5 pre-surgery to 20.8 post-surgery.
 Conclusions: This study reveals that women sexual functions are affected by POP and SUI and improve remarkably after reconstructive surgeries for these pelvic floor disorders.
 doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.4.3892
 How to cite this:Abrar S, Mohsin R, Saleem H. Surgery for pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence and female sexual functions: A quasi-experimental study. Pak J Med Sci. 2021;37(4):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.4.3892
 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Surgical treatment of pelvic organ prolapse using colpocleisis: A case series

“… 18 A previous study showed significant effects of resconstructive surgery on sexual function in women with POP and/or stress incontinence. 3 …”

“…18 A previous study showed significant effects of resconstructive surgery on sexual function in women with POP and/or stress incontinence. 3 In our study, we included only elderly women and hence sexual function was not a major concern for this population. The morbidity and mortality associated with the surgery is largely related to the health status of this elderly segment of the population.…”

“…Pelvic organ prolapse (POP), a common urogynaecological condition, is prevalent among elderly women 1 and affects the quality of life to a significant extent. [2][3][4] Some factors that may predispose women to develop POP are age, weight, vaginal delivery and multiparity. 4,5 The prevalence of POP is expected to increase in the coming years and so is the need for its surgery.…”

Prevalence, Severity and Associated Factors of Urinary Incontinence in Women in Rural Pakistan

“…This reluctance to disclose symptoms may underestimate UI prevalence, impacting data accuracy and completeness (Karmarkar et al, 2022;Larsudd-Kåverud et al, 2023). Addressing these limitations is pivotal for a more accurate understanding of UI prevalence (Abrar et al, 2023). Interestingly, over a quarter of women reported experiencing UI for more than five years, but only a fraction sought medical consultation (15.7%).…”