Highlights
- •In this study, 18% of community-dwelling elderly Japanese women reported symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse.
- •Self-reported pelvic organ prolapse was related to higher scores on the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test and reduced scores for basic activities of daily living.
- •Sex-specific symptoms were associated with reduced physical function in older women.
Abstract
Objectives
Despite the reported ‘male-female health-survival paradox’, no components of the comprehensive
geriatric assessment (CGA) routinely used in the field of geriatrics focus on female-specific
symptoms. To investigate the impact of gynecological factors among elderly women,
we noted the gynecological history and examined the association between self-rated
symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and CGA.
Study design
This community-based, cross-sectional study in Japan included 164 community-dwelling
women aged ≥75 years.
Main outcome measures
The main outcome measures were the Pelvic Organ Prolapse Distress Inventory-6 (POPDI-6),
activities of daily living (ADL), and Timed Up and Go (TUG) test. Self-rated symptoms
of POP were assessed using POPDI-6, and the participants were dichotomized into POPDI-6
>0 (symptom group) and POPDI-6 = 0 (no-symptom group). Several components of the CGA
were compared between the groups with and without symptoms of POP and the association
with POPDI-6 score was analyzed by multiple logistic regression analysis.
Results
Compared with the no-symptom group, the symptom group had significantly longer TUG
test time (≥13.5 s) (P = 0.024) and difficulty in basic ADL (score <21) (P = 0.02). In multiple logistic regression analysis, basic ADL <21 and TUG time ≥13.5 s were significantly associated with POPDI-6 >0 (odds ratio [OR] = 2.78; 95%
confidence interval [CI] = 1.10–7.06 and OR = 3.45; 95% CI = 1.01–1.24).
Conclusions
Self-rated POP symptoms were associated with CGA components among community-dwelling
elderly women. Evaluating POP symptoms as part of the CGA could be meaningful for
improving physical and psychological health in elderly women.
Keywords
Abbreviations:
ADL (activities of daily living), ANOVA (analysis of variance), CGA (comprehensive geriatric assessment), CI (confidence interval), FRI-5 (Fall Risk Index-5), GDS-5 (five-item version of the Geriatric Depression Scale), MMSE (Mini-Mental State Examination), OR (odds ratio), PFDI-20 (Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory-20), POP (pelvic organ prolapse), POPDI-6 (Pelvic Organ Prolapse Distress Inventory-6), QOL (quality of life), TLAS (Tosa Longitudinal Aging Study), TMIG-IC (Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology Index of Competence), TUG (Timed Up and Go)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 27, 2021
Accepted:
October 24,
2021
Received in revised form:
July 27,
2021
Received:
February 27,
2021
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
