title: Ventral hernia and patient experience of an elastic girdle.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Abdominal girdles are used to prevent hernia and to facilitate the in-growth of mesh following ventral hernia surgery or instead of surgery. Scientific evidence supporting the use of girdle, including patient experience, is lacking. The aim was to investigate patient experience of wearing an elastic girdle in terms of support and tolerability.
  
  
  METHODS
  A trans-sectional study with quantitative onset was performed. Telephone interviews following a strict protocol were performed 2 years after girdle prescription. Of the 89 eligible patients, 67 completed the interview. The questionnaire constituted 13 questions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 52 women and 15 men, two thirds had ventral hernia surgery. Patients over 70 years more often used girdle as a substitute for surgery. Most patients (64%) were satisfied with the girdle and 94% used it as prescribed. Five out of 53 who used girdles preoperatively stated no improvement in their inconvenience. Almost all patients (97%) had some problem with the girdle.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this first study on patient experience, nearly all patients used it as prescribed and subjective benefit was achieved even though side effects were present in most cases. Individual fitting and improved information about when and how to use the girdle is important for patient comfort and optimal function. This study attended patient experience of negative side effects from wearing a girdle. Improvement may be reached concerning comfort from the patients' perspective. The importance of both written and oral information has been revealed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical and Perioperative Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.|Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Division of Surgery, CLINTEC, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital/Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Strigård
authors.affiliation: Department for Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stark
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Division of Surgery, CLINTEC, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital/Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Agneta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bogren
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical and Perioperative Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.|Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Division of Surgery, CLINTEC, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital/Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Gunnarsson
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003020:Clothing / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006555:Hernia, Ventral / Q000601:surgery*; D059685:Herniorrhaphy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013526:Surgical Mesh; D013548:Sweden
keywords: girdle; patient experience; tolerability; trans-sectional study; ventral hernia surgery