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In obesity even young women suffer from urogynecological symptoms

  • General Gynecology
  • Published:
Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the occurrence of urogynecological symptoms in obese women treated in a university outpatient clinic for obesity, setting a focus on younger women.

Methods

In this explorative, prospective, cross-sectional, single-center, multidisciplinary clinical trial, all consecutively recruited women received the Prolapse Quality of Life questionnaire (P-QOL) for data acquisition. The total study population (TSP) and a subgroup (SG) aged 18–49 years were evaluated descriptively regarding symptom demonstration.

Results

Of the TSP (n = 166, mean age 40.2, standard deviation (SD) 12.98, mean body mass index (BMI) 45 kg/m2, SD 8.44) 105 (63%) and of the SG (n = 125, mean age 34.6, SD 9.29, mean BMI 44.9 kg/m2, SD 8.26) 72 (58%) women suffered from urinary incontinence (UI) being most impaired by stress urinary incontinence (SUI; TSP: 25%; SG: 27%) and least by urge urinary incontinence (UUI; TSP: 15%; SG: 11%). A significant correlation in the TSP between UI and age was detectable (p < 0.001, r φ = 0.37), but not between UI and BMI (p = 0.296, r φ = 0.08). The highest QOL impairment is detected for the domain general health perceptions [GHP; TSP & SG score >50 (score scale 0–100)]. Women with UI are significantly more affected than women with pelvic organ prolapse (GHP UI: TSP p = 0.04, SG p = 0.037; GHP POP: TSP p = 0.081, SG p = 0.659).

Conclusions

A remarkable number of young obese women mentioned urogynecological symptoms and quality-of-life impairment. The P-QOL questionnaire proved to be an easily applicable tool to scan for concerned obese women. Its use in non-urogynecological departments, as performed, enables an early introduction of symptomatic women to urogynecologists, possibly preventing future growing urogynecological health issues.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Gottfried Rudofsky

    Present address: Stoffwechselzentrum Kantonsspital Olten, Baslerstr. 140, 4600, Olten, Switzerland

  2. Geraldine Rauch

    Present address: Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Institute of Medical Biometry and Clinical Epidemiology, Reinhardtstr. 58, 10117, Berlin, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical School, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 440, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Janina Brucker, Ina Wagner, Christof Sohn & Kerstin A. Brocker

  2. Department of Internal Medicine I and Clinical Chemistry, Medical School, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 410, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Gottfried Rudofsky

  3. Institute of Medical Biometry and Informatics, Medical School, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 130.3, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Geraldine Rauch

Authors
  1. Janina Brucker
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  2. Ina Wagner
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  3. Gottfried Rudofsky
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  4. Geraldine Rauch
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  6. Kerstin A. Brocker
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Contributions

JBrucker: data management and manuscript writing/editing. I Wagner: data collection and management, and manuscript editing. G Rudofsky: protocol/project development and manuscript editing. G Rauch: data analysis and manuscript editing. C Sohn: project development and manuscript editing. K Brocker: protocol and project development, data management, and manuscript writing/editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kerstin A. Brocker.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

KAB received speaking honoraria from Serag Wiessner GmbH & Co. KG (Naila, Germany). No money for speaking honoraria was used to fund this trial. KAB received research funding from Serag Wiessner GmbH & Co. KG (Naila, Germany) in the past, of which no money was used to perform this trial. This trial was self-funded. All other authors have nothing to declare.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in this trial involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the survey.

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Brucker, J., Wagner, I., Rudofsky, G. et al. In obesity even young women suffer from urogynecological symptoms. Arch Gynecol Obstet 296, 947–956 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-017-4514-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-017-4514-6

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