Pelvic Floor Disorders: Help Is On the Way

Are you one of the thousands of women who have a mishap when you laugh, cough or sneeze? If so, you probably suffer from some form of pelvic floor disorder—common among 24 percent of the female population—with often painful and embarrassing side effects. And ladies, if you don’t already have pelvic floor problems, by the time you reach 80 there is a 50 percent chance you will. Thankfully, there is currently research looking to improve treatments for these disorders.
The National Institutes of Health, funded research that discovered almost one quarter of women suffer from some form of pelvic floor disorder and a woman's odds of developing the disorder increase as they grow older. The disorder affects 40 percent of women from 60 to 79, and for women over 80, their risk increases to 50 percent. The research is the first analysis of a national sample to show the extent of those affected by the disorder.
A woman’s pelvic floor is made up of muscles and ligaments that form a sling and support the bladder, bowels, and uterus. Pelvic floor disorders occur once the sling, of muscle and ligaments, wear down and stretch. There are three main disorders that result from this breakdown, pelvic organ prolapse, urinary incontinence, and fecal incontinence.
When the uterus, bladder, and bowels collapse, into the vaginal canal, it is called pelvic organ collapse. It can be very uncomfortable, because of the pressure from the organs into the vagina area. The organs can potentially extend into the vaginal canal, which can limit physical activities and even put a halt to intercourse.
When one loses bladder control the disorder is known as urinary incontinence, another pelvic floor disorder. Wetting our underwear is very embarrassing as we age. Urinary incontinence is common, but not a normal part of the aging process. Though it is common for childbirth and menopause to cause urine leakage problems, it isn’t a guaranteed consequence. As if wetting your pants wasn’t enough, another form of pelvic floor disorders comes with possible accidents with your bowel movements. Bowel accidents can be caused like the other disorders from muscle damage in the pelvic floor, but causes also include constipation, nerve damage and diarrhea. Bowel incontinence can range from occasional to complete loss of bowel control.
The study, recently released in the September 17, 2008 Journal of the American Medical Association, was conducted to prevent pelvic floor disorders in women through better diagnosis, treatment and prevention. The study conducted by the BIH’s Pelvic Floor Disorders Network’s and lead author Ingrid Nygaard, M.D., M.S., of the University of Utah, School of Medicine, included a questionnaire on pelvic floor disorders in the 2005-2006 periodic National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) of the U.S. population. The study included 1,961 non-pregnant women over the age of 20, and were evaluated by the team of researchers based on the questionnaire in regards to their pelvic floor disorder symptoms. Almost 24 percent of the women had signs of a pelvic floor disorder, but the majority had urinary incontinence symptoms. Based on the study, women not overweight have better odds of avoiding pelvic floor disorders, compared to women overweight or obese. The cases of pelvic floor disorders increased based on the number of women who had given birth. Women who had given birth three times or more had a 32.4 percent chance of having the disorder compared to 24.6 percent chance for those giving birth twice, 18.4 with one child and 12.8 percent for those who had never given birth. Treatment for pelvic floor disorders varies depending on the severity of the symptoms. Currently treatments are surgery, therapies, strengthening muscles to support organs, use of vaginal devices to support pelvic organs such as the bladder, and medications.
No one ever wants to worry about the embarrassment of wetting or soiling their pants. However, it seems many women throughout the U.S. endure the embarrassment and pain caused from pelvic floor disorders. Duane Alexander, M.D., director of the NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver stated, "The study results underscore the need to identify the causes of pelvic floor disorders and the means to prevent and treat them." While operations and treatments are currently available to help with treating pelvic floor disorders it seems based on the numbers from this current study, there is definitely room for improvement with diagnosis, treatment and even prevention. Hopefully, through more research and studies we will see new options for treatment and prevention of the embarrassing and sometimes painful disorder.