Long-Term Outcomes After Midurethral Mesh Sling Surgery for Stress Urinary Incontinence.

OBJECTIVES: Although midurethral mesh slings are the criterion standard surgical treatment for stress urinary incontinence (SUI), limited data exist regarding long-term outcomes. Thus, our objectives were to evaluate the long-term risk of sling revision and the risk of repeat SUI surgery up to 15 years after the initial sling procedure and to identify predictors of these outcomes. METHODS: Using a population-based cohort of commercially insured individuals in the United States, we identified women aged 18 years or older who underwent a sling procedure between 2001 and 2018. For sling revision, we evaluated indications (mesh exposure or urinary retention). We estimated the cumulative risks of sling revision and repeat SUI surgery annually using Kaplan-Meier survival curves and evaluated predictors using Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: We identified 334,601 mesh sling surgical procedures. For sling revision, the 10-year and 15-year risks were 6.9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.7-7.0) and 7.9% (95% CI, 7.5-8.3), with 48.7% of sling revisions associated with mesh exposure. The 10-year and 15-year risks of repeat SUI surgery were 14.5% (95% CI, 14.2-14.8) and 17.9% (95% CI, 17.3-18.6). Women aged 18-29 years had an elevated risk for both sling revision (hazard ratio, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.15-1.25) and repeat SUI surgery (hazard ratio, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.25-1.37) compared with women 70 years and older. CONCLUSIONS: In our study population, the 15-year risk of sling revision was 7.9%, with nearly half of revisions due to mesh exposure. These findings provide critical long-term data to support informed decisions for women and health care providers considering midurethral mesh slings.

Risk of serious infections associated with use of immunosuppressive agents in pregnant women with autoimmune inflammatory conditions: cohort study.

Objective To compare the risk of serious infections associated with use of systemic steroids, non-biologic agents, or tumor necrosis factor α (TNF) inhibitors in pregnancy.Design Observational cohort study.Setting Public (Medicaid, 2001-10) or private (Optum Clinformatics, 2004-15) health insurance programs in the US.Participants 4961 pregnant women treated with immunosuppressive drugs for rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, or inflammatory bowel disease.Exposure for observational studies Exposure was classified into steroid, non-biologic, or TNF inhibitors on first filled prescription during pregnancy. Because TNF inhibitors are not used to treat systemic lupus erythematosus, patients with this condition were excluded from comparisons involving TNF inhibitors.Main outcome measure The main outcome was occurrence of serious infections during pregnancy, defined by hospital admission for bacterial or opportunistic infections. Hazard ratios were derived using Cox proportional hazard regression models after adjustment for confounding with propensity score fine stratification. A logistic regression model was used to conduct a dose-response analysis among women filling at least one steroid prescription.Results 71 out of 4961 pregnant women (0.2%) treated with immunosuppressive agents experienced serious infections. The crude incidence rates of serious infections per 100 person years among 2598 steroid users, 1587 non-biologic users, and 776 TNF inhibitors users included in this study were 3.4 (95% confidence interval 2.5 to 4.7), 2.3 (1.5 to 3.5), and 1.5 (0.7 to 3.0), respectively. No statistically significant differences in the risk of serious infections during pregnancy were observed among users of the three immunosuppressive drug classes: non-biologics v steroids, hazard ratio 0.81 (95% confidence interval 0.48 to 1.37), TNF inhibitors v steroids 0.91 (0.36 to 2.26), and TNF inhibitors v non-biologics 1.36 (0.47 to 3.93). In the dose-response analysis, higher steroid dose was associated with an increased risk of serious infections during pregnancy (coefficient for each unit increase in average prednisone equivalent mg daily dose=0.019, P=0.02).Conclusions Risk of serious infections is similar among pregnant women with systemic inflammatory conditions using steroids, non-biologics, and TNF inhibitors. However, high dose steroid use is an independent risk factor of serious infections in pregnancy.