A prospective study of pessary treatment for pelvic organ prolapse and health-related quality-of-life

Abstract

To explore the effects of pessary use on symptomatic improvement and quality-of-life (QOL) in women with pelvic organ prolapse (POP). For this prospective cohort study, 79 patients with symptomatic POP were evaluated for pessary insertion between October 2011 and February 2013. After 3 and 6 months of consistent pessary use, quality of life was assessed with the Chinese version of Short-Form 12-Item Health Survey (SF-12) and pelvic floor impact questionnaire short form (PFIQ-7). Their average age was (66±9) years, average parity (2.4±1.1) and average duration of POP (68±14) months. Among them, 63 (79.7%) continued pessary use at 3 months and 46 (58.2%) at 6 months. The reasons for dropout were inappropriate size, discomfort and urinary retention. Compared with baseline findings, SF-12 and PFIQ-7 demonstrated significant improvement in patient QOL at 3 months and 6 months. Pessary use results in significant changes of QOL for POP patients. And it is a viable noninvasive treatment for pelvic organ prolapse.