Prevalence of vaginal laxity in primiparous women six months after birth

Abstract

Objective: To assess the prevalence of VL in primiparous women undergoing vaginal birth or caesarean section; and its association with obstetric, urinary, intestinal and sexual factors for its occurrence. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study carried out between July 2021 and January 2023. Primiparous women who underwent vaginal birth or caesarean section without complaints of VL during pregnancy were included. Clinical and obstetric data were collected and participants completed questionnaires on the impact of urinary incontinence (ICIQ-SF), vaginal symptoms (ICIQ-VS) and sexual distress (FSDS-R) at recruitment and six-months postpartum. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression was performed, considering VL as the outcome and p=0.05. Results: One hundred participants were included for data analysis. The prevalence of VL was 8%. In the univariate analysis, SUI, urgency urinary incontinence (UUI), coital incontinence, constipation and the ICIQ-VS and ICIQ-SF scores were associated with VL. The ICIQ-VS, FSDS-R and ICIQ-SF scores increased the risk of VL by one-fold. However, only UUI (OR 10.50(CI 95% 1.90-58.10), coital incontinence (OR 42.00(CI 95% 3.11-566.38), and ICIQ-VS (vaginal symptoms OR 1.32(CI 95% 1.05-1.66) and ICIQ-SF (OR 1.25(CI 95% 1.02-1.54), scores remained associated with VL in multivariate-analysis. Conclusion: The prevalence of VL in primiparous women was lower than that reported in other studies and showed an association with the occurrence of vaginal symptoms, UUI and coital incontinence, six-months postpartum.