Effect of postpartum pelvic floor muscle training on vaginal symptoms and XXXX -secondary analysis of a randomised trial.

@entity1 @entity322 @entity458 @entity546 @entity250
OBJECTIVE: Evaluate effect of pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) on vaginal symptoms and @entity458 , @entity546 and @entity322 in primiparous @entity1 stratified by major or no defects of the levator ani muscle. DESIGN: Randomised controlled trial (RCT). SETTING: Akershus University Hospital, Norway. SAMPLE: About 175 primiparous @entity1 with a singleton vaginal delivery. METHODS: Two-armed assessor blinded parallel group RCT from 6 weeks to 6 months postpartum comparing effect of PFMT versus control. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: International Consultation on Incontinence Modular Questionnaire-vaginal symptoms questionnaire (ICIQ-VS) and ICIQ @entity458 module (ICIQ-FLUTSsex). RESULTS: Overall, analysis (n = 175) showed no difference between training and control groups in @entity1 having vaginal symptoms or symptoms related to @entity250 6 months postpartum. The majority of @entity1 (88%) had intercourse and there was no difference between groups. Unadjusted subgroup analysis of @entity1 with a major defect of the levator ani muscle (n = 55) showed that @entity1 in the training group had 45% less risk of having the symptom 'vagina feels loose or lax' compared with the control group (relative risk 0.55, 95% confidence interval 0.31, 0.95; P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Unadjusted analysis showed that in @entity1 with major defect of the levator ani muscle, significantly fewer in the training group had the symptom 'vagina feels loose or lax' compared with the control group. No difference was found between groups for symptoms related to @entity250 . More studies are needed to explore effect of PFMT on vaginal symptoms and @entity250 . TWEETABLE ABSTRACT: Unadjusted analysis shows that PFMT might prevent symptoms of 'vagina feels loose or lax'.
