Pelvic floor muscle disorders and women’s quality of life

摘要

Purpose: To characterize the symptoms of urinary incontinence of women suffering from pelvic organ disorders (POP) and the effect of these problems on quality of life (QoL).Materials and methods: 215 women from rural regions diagnosed with POP were examined. The research implemented the Life Satisfaction Questionnaire (LISAT-11), used to assess quality of life; the Sexual Quality of Life-Female (SQoL-F) questionnaire, which was employed to assess sexual activity; and the Gaudenz-Incontinence questio-nnaire, served to assess the occurrence of symptoms of urinary incontinence as well as to define the type of urinary incontinence and its degree of escalation.Results: The average age of the participants was 54.8 years. Most of the participants had urinary incontinence (159; 73.95%). Women with POP and symptoms of urinary incontinence achieved a lower indicator of the sexual function QoL (median - 61.00) when compared to those not suffering from urinary incontinence (median- 78.00). Differences between the groups were statistically significant (p=0.002). The general indicator of QoL for women with symptoms and those without symptoms of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) did not reveal any significant differences between the groups (p=0.643).Conclusions: Urinary incontinence in women with disorders of pelvic floor muscle functions has an insignificant effect on general QoL, whereas it has a decidedly negative impact on sexual function QoL.