Pelvic organ prolapse and relationship with skeletal integrity

Study of pelvic organ prolapse as a predictor of osteoporotic fracture risk

Purpose: The present study aimed to examine the association between the stage of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and the risk of fracture in postmenopausal women.Methods: A cross-sectional design was used, which included 133 women with POP over 50 years of age. The participants were classified according to their POP stage, underwent blood tests (hemogram, biochemistry, bone remodeling markers, and hormone tests), and completed a sociodemographic and lifestyle questionnaire along with densitometry, FRAX, and FRIDEX tests.Results: Of the 133 women studied, 66 presented stages I-II POP (49.6%) and 67 III-IV POP (50.4%). The mean age of the participants was 64.47 years. Women with a high POP stage showed higher FRAX scores for major osteoporotic and hip fracture (p .001 and p < .001p). Bivariate analysis revealed that higher scores on the FRIDEX scale were associated with a higher POP stage (p = .032). In addition, there was a marginally significant negative association between bone mineral density (BMD) and POP stage (p = .054).Conclusions: High-stage POP can be considered an independent predictor of osteoporotic fracture risk, as measured using the FRAX and FRIDEX scales.

Pelvic Organ Prolapse Is Associated with Osteoporosis in Korean Women: Analysis of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service National Patient Sample

Background and Objectives: Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and osteoporosis are major disease entities in older women that have the same epidemiology and might also have the same molecular physiology. However, few data have been reported on the relationship between POP and osteoporosis. We designed this study to examine the association between POP and osteoporosis in Korean women. Materials and Methods: We used the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service 2015 to 2017 National Patient Sample (HIRA-NPS). A total of 4,368,141 individuals were included in this study, and a total of 842,228 individuals aged 50 years and above were included in the final analysis. POP patients were defined by the Korean Informative Classification of Diseases (KOICD) codes (KCD-7, N81, or N99.3) and patients who underwent a pelvic reconstructive procedure. The osteoporosis patients were defined by KOICD (KCD-7, R4113, R3620, R0402,) who were prescribed osteoporosis medication. A 1:10 age-stratified matching and chi-squared test were used for statistical analysis, and p < 0.05 was considered as significant. Results: A total of 7359 women were included in this analysis. Advanced POP was correlated with osteoporosis in Korean women aged 50 years and above in 2015–2017 (p < 0.0001). After adjusting for age, advanced POP was correlated with osteoporosis in the 2015, 2016, and 2017 dataset (p = 0.013, 0.0009, 0.0119, respectively). Conclusions: Advanced POP is correlated with osteoporosis in Korean women aged 50 years and above. Evaluation for osteoporosis and education about bone health can be especially important, even in relatively young women, aged 50–59 years, and POP patients.

Pelvic Floor Symptoms and Spinal Curvature in Women

OBJECTIVES

To characterize the association between thoracic (T) and lumbar (L) spinal curvature and pelvic floor (PF) symptoms (pelvic organ prolapse, urinary incontinence [UI], fecal incontinence [FI]).

METHODS

Of women undergoing a bone mineral density scan from January 2007 to October 2010, patients who completed PF symptom questionnaires and had T and/or L spine radiographs or computed tomography examinations within 3 years of questionnaire completion were included in this study. The spine angles were measured using the Cobb angle method. The T and L curvatures were categorized as hypokyphosis (<20°), normal T kyphosis (20-40°), hyperkyphosis (>40°), hypolordosis (<40°), normal L lordosis (40-70°), and hyperlordosis (>70°). The presence and type of UI were identified with the 3 Incontinence Questionnaire and FI with the Modified Manchester Questionnaire. Pelvic organ prolapse was defined as a positive response to the presence of a bulge question from the PF Distress Inventory-20.

RESULTS

Of 1665 eligible women, 824 and 302 (mean age 64 ± 10 for both) had T and L spine images, respectively. No differences in PF symptoms were observed in the T or L spine groups categorized by hypo-, normal, and hyperkyphosis/lordosis except for urgency UI being more prevalent in the hypolordosis group (P = 0.01). However, upon further characterization using logistic regression, no association was noted between PF symptoms and T or L spine angles; no differences in the mean angles were found between women with versus without PF symptoms (P ≥ 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The current study shows that the T and L spinal curvatures are not associated with the presence of PF symptoms.