Follow up of surgical repair of female pelvic floor disorders by a mailed questionnaire.
BACKGROUND
This study was conducted to determine whether surgical repair of pelvic prolapse enhances patients' quality of life (QOL) in the long term.


METHODS
A total of 91 patients (median age, 68.0 years) with pelvic prolapse including cystoceles underwent bladder neck suspension with anterior/posterior colporrhaphy between 1997 and 2003. Postoperative QOL was longitudinally assessed by three disease-specific items (sensation of vaginal bulging, obstructive symptoms, urinary incontinence), and one overall health-related QOL (HR-QOL) item.


RESULTS
A longitudinal study demonstrated that a significant improvement in these symptoms was sustained at a median follow up of 65.5 months, although poor HR-QOL was significantly higher in patients whose age was more than 70 years at surgery (P = 0.0234, Fisher's test). Multivariate analysis revealed update urinary incontinence, update obstructive symptoms, and basic comorbidity to be independent prognostic factors for predicting postoperative moderate-to-poor HR-QOL.


CONCLUSIONS
Longer follow up with adequate assessment of patients' QOL may be crucial for the management of postoperative patients, in particular those having basic comorbidity and aged 70 years or more at surgery.
Matsuyama
Hideyasu
H
Department of Urology, Yamaguchi University School of Medicine, Ube, Japan.
Hirata
Hiroshi
H
Tomimatsu
Takeshi
T
Yamakawa
Gen-ichro
GI
Tatsumura
Masato
M
Naito
Katsusuke
K
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017773:Pelvic Floor / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D013519:Urogenital Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D014596:Uterine Prolapse / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*