General Obstetrics and Gynecology: GynecologySexual function among women with urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse
Section snippets
Material and methods
The Maryland Women's Health Study was a prospective cohort study of 1299 women scheduled for hysterectomy in Maryland during 1992 and 1993. The design of this study has been described in detail previously.13 Briefly, of the 4858 women undergoing hysterectomy at participating hospitals during the study period, 1823 were identified before the hysterectomy and approached for enrollment. Of the patients contacted, 81% agreed to participate. Of the 1299 participants, the most common principal
Pelvic floor disorders
Among 1299 women scheduled for hysterectomy, we identified 495 women with pelvic floor disorders (38.1%). Six cases (0.5%) were excluded because of incomplete USSW data. The 495 cases of pelvic floor disorders included 99 women who had both prolapse and severe incontinence, 113 women who had prolapse without severe incontinence, and 283 women who had severe urinary incontinence without prolapse. When comparing women with and without pelvic floor disorders, we found that pelvic floor disorders
Comment
These data suggest that sexual complaints are strongly associated with urinary incontinence. Specifically, in this study, women with severe urinary incontinence were more likely to report low libido, vaginal dryness, and dysparuenia than women without severe incontinence. Similar findings were noted by Laumann et al.15 In a household survey of 1749 women, “urinary tract symptoms” were significantly associated with complaints of sexual pain (OR 7.61) and problems with arousal (OR 4.02). However,
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Supported by grant HS06865 from the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research.
Dr Siddique is an employee of the United States Navy.
The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the United States Navy or the Department of Defense.