Evidence of Disability and Quality of Life-related Outcome Measures in Postpartum Women with Pelvic Girdle Pain: A Literature Review

Abstract

Introduction: Pelvic girdle pain is a common musculoskeletal complaint in pregnant or postpartum women. This pain is experienced between the posterior iliac crest and the gluteal fold. Various assessment tools are used for assessing Disability and Quality of life in postpartum women with pelvic girdle pain. Aim: To provide suggestions based on evidence, for the assessment tools used in postpartum women with pelvic girdle pain. Materials and Methods: In the present review, MEDLINE (via PubMed), Scopus, Google Scholar, Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) were searched using Boolean operators to identify existing relevant studies from September 2023 to February 2024. The studies that assessed the measurement properties of tools used to measure outcomes relevant to populations experiencing Pelvic Girdle Pain (PGP) and/or Lumbar Pelvic Pain (LPP) were included. Results: The existing evidence suggested reliability of tools for Pelvic Girdle Questionnaire {Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC)=0.98} Oswestry Disability Index (0.94); Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (0.91); Disability Rating Index (ICC=0.90); Short Form-8 (ICC=0.85). Conclusion: All the instruments showed excellent reliability and the Pelvic Girdle Questionnaire (PGQ) is the most assessed instrument in the literature. It is suggested that PGQ can be utilised to assess disability in postpartum women with pelvic girdle pain and is the only condition-specific tool for pelvic girdle pain. By employing these assessment instruments in clinical setting would assist in diagnosing and monitoring prognosis during subsequent evaluations.