Are there any preventable risk factors for women who had surgery for Pelvic Organ Prolapse and stress Urinary Incontinence?

Objective: The present study evaluates the preventable risk factors in symptomatic women with previous surgery for pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and/or stress urinary incontinence (SUI).

Methods: Four hundred and one women previously operated were divided into two groups as; women operated for POP (325 cases) and women operated for SUI (76 cases). The control group consisted of 233 age and body mass index (BMI)-matched subject operated for benign gynecologic reasons and exhibited no evidence of POP or SUI. These groups were compared in terms of age, BMI, gravida, parity, mode of delivery, smoking status, menopause status and chronic diseases.

Results: Grand_multiparity (parity ≥5) increased the risk of POP/SUI surgery and POP surgery 2.71 and 2.94 times, respectively (p=0.0003 and p=0.0001, respectively). Vaginal birth increased the risk of POP/SUI surgery 2.33 times (p=0.03).

Conclusion: Grand_multiparity increased the risk of POP/SUI surgery and POP surgery while vaginal birth increased the risk of POP/SUI surgery. Among them, particularly, grand_multiparity seem to be the only preventable risk factors.