Female Pelvic Floor Symptoms Before and After Bariatric Surgery

Background

Obesity is a risk factor for female pelvic floor disorders. The study objective was to determine whether there was a difference in the subjective reporting of pelvic symptoms before and after bariatric surgery.

Methods

This was a prospective cohort study of female patients that underwent bariatric surgery. Patients completed a demographic questionnaire, the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory-20 (PFDI-20), and the Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire-7 (PFIQ-7) before surgery and at 6 and 12?months following surgery. Body mass index (BMI) was compared between time points using Student??s t tests (P?P?Results At 12?months after surgery, 63 patients had completed the study. Even with significant weight loss (BMI, 43.7?kg/m² to BMI, 29?kg/m²; P?P?=?0.2). Prevalence of pelvic floor symptom impact on quality of life did significantly decrease after surgery (56% to 30%; P?=?0.004). Baseline PFDI-20 and PFIQ-7 scores were low; however, there was still a significant reduction in PFDI-20 and PFIQ-7 scores after surgery (P?Conclusions Prevalence of pelvic floor symptoms did not vary greatly after surgery; however, significant weight reduction did improve the degree of bother and quality of life related to these symptoms.