Prevalence of Pelvic Floor Dysfunction among Women in South India

Abstract

Aim and Objective: To assess the prevalence of pelvic floor dysfunction among women. Methodology: Quantitative approach, descriptive survey research design adopted for this study. Population comprised of all women between 3 months to 1 year post delivery status and having either of the symptoms of urinary incontinence, bowel incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, pelvic pain or dyspareunia. Pelvic floor dysfunction was assessed using pelvic floor distress inventory scale, for the women residing in the 26 villages of Tamil Nadu. Result: 424 women screened, 232 (54.7%) women were identified to have risk for pelvic floor muscle dysfunction, 45.3% of women had normal pelvic floor muscle strength. Majority of them (93.2%) had reported pelvic pain followed by (82.4%) having urinary incontinence. Only (1.4%) of them had reported to have pelvic organ prolapse. Conclusion: Pelvic floor dysfunction causes a lot of burden among the women and studies have showed a trend of increasing prevalence. Community based nursing interventions are very much needed to prevent women from encountering pelvic floor dysfunction which will significantly affect their quality of life