Commentary on “Postpartum pelvic organ prolapse and pelvic floor muscle training: secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial of primiparous women”

Excerpt

This study presents a secondary analysis of an originally randomized controlled trial (RCT). Whereas the prior RCT [1] was aimed at determining the effects of physiotherapist-guided pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) on postpartum urinary and anal incontinence symptoms, this secondary analysis focused on the effect on pelvic organ prolapse (POP) symptoms. The secondary analysis was conducted with the original dataset, which included 84 primiparous women after singleton delivery. At an average of 9 weeks postpartum the trial group had started a 12-week PFMT training whereas the control group had not received instructions to perform PFMT. The outcome was defined as self-evaluated POP symptoms using the Australian Pelvic Floor Questionnaire (translated, but not validated, into the Icelandic language). Time-points of outcome assessment were after the last PFMT session and after 12 months. This secondary analysis did not identify any differences in POP symptoms at either time point between the two groups. In both groups, POP symptoms similarly decreased during the period investigated. …