Body image and pelvic floor dysfunction in pregnancy and postpartum: A prospective one-year follow-up cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) among pregnant women, their clustering and their association with body image disturbance (BID) up to 1 year postpartum. DESIGN: Monocentric prospective cohort study. SETTING: University Hospitals Leuven. POPULATION: Pregnant women attending for pregnancy care, first assessed prior to 14 weeks of gestation and agreeing to follow-up until 1 year postpartum. METHODS: Standardised questionnaires reporting on PFD and BID at 12-14 and 28-32 weeks of gestation, and again at 6-8 weeks and 1 year postpartum. We calculated the prevalence of PFD, how the cases clustered and how the cases correlated with BID using a linear mixed-model analysis. A minimum of 174 women with complete follow-up were required. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The questionnaires used were the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire - Urinary Incontinence Short Form (ICIQ-UI SF), St. Mark's Incontinence Score (SMIS), Patient Assessment of Constipation Symptoms (PAC-SYM), Pelvic Organ Prolapse Distress Inventory (POPDI), Pelvic Organ Prolapse/Incontinence Sexual Questionnaire IUGA Revised (PISQ-IR) and the Body Image Disturbance Questionnaire (BIDQ). RESULTS: Out of 208 women, 92.8% reported one or multiple symptoms of PFD at 28-32 weeks of gestation, dropping to 73.6% by 1 year postpartum. The most common symptoms were constipation (65.3% at 28-32 weeks of gestation and 42.8% at 1 year postpartum) and urinary incontinence (56.8% at 28-32 weeks of gestation and 35.1% at 1 year postpartum). After correcting for body mass index, parity and mode of delivery, the severity of BID was associated with the ICIQ-UI SF score (ß = 0.016, range 0.007-0.024), the PAC-SYM score (ß = 0.006, range 0.002-0.011) and the POPDI score (ß = 0.009, range 0.005-0.012), but not with the SMIS score (ß = 0.015, range -0.001 to 0.031) or the PISQ-IR score, in sexually active women. CONCLUSIONS: Urinary incontinence, constipation and symptoms of prolapse have a measurable impact on BID.

Three-Dimensional Transperineal Ultrasound Assessment of the Anal Sphincter Immediately After Vaginal Birth: An Exploratory Study.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the feasibility of acquiring adequate transperineal ultrasound (TPUS) volumes of the anal sphincter (AS) immediately after vaginal birth, the reproducibility of its measurements, and detecting defects therein. METHODS: Secondary analysis of TPUS volumes of the AS, acquired immediately after vaginal birth with a transversely oriented convex probe. Two independent experts ranked off-line image quality as "inadequate," "adequate," or "ideal" using the Point-of-Care Ultrasound Image Quality scale. On "adequate" and "ideal" quality volumes, the length of the external AS at 6 and 12 o'clock, and the volume of the external and internal AS were measured. Additionally, volumes were screened for AS defects on tomographic ultrasound imaging. Subsequently, we rated the intra- and interrater agreement on those findings. RESULTS: Of 183 volumes, 162 were considered "adequate" or of "ideal" quality (88.5%). Reasons for "inadequacy" were shadow artifacts (16/21), poor resolution (3/21), incomplete acquisition (1/21), or aberrant AS morphology (1/21). The intrarater reliability of two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) measurements was excellent, whereas interrater reliability was fair to good for 2D measurements and good for 3D measurements. In those tomographic ultrasound imaging (TUI) sequences including AS defects, the intra- and interrater reliability of the defect measurement were excellent [intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = 0.92 (0.80-0.94)] and moderate [ICC = 0.72 (0.63-0.79)]. In this cohort, there were only few (4/48; 8.3%) AS defects. However, grading them was poorly reproducible between experts. CONCLUSION: TPUS of the AS immediately after vaginal birth yields adequate image quality and allows for reproducible measurements. In the few patients with AS defects, there was good agreement on the presence, but it was poor for the extent of defects.