Awareness of Pelvic Floor Disorders Among Postpartum and Menopausal Women: A Cross-Sectional Study

TL;DR

This study found that postpartum women in Saudi Arabia have better awareness of pelvic floor disorders than menopausal women, highlighting a need for educational efforts.

Contribution

The study compares awareness of pelvic floor disorders between postpartum and menopausal women in Saudi Arabia, revealing a significant gap in menopausal women's knowledge.

Findings

Postpartum women had significantly higher urinary incontinence knowledge scores than menopausal women.

Menopausal women were more likely to visit a urologist or urogynecologist.

Awareness of pelvic organ prolapse was high in 70.3% of participants.

Abstract

Background

Pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD), including urinary incontinence (UI) and pelvic organ prolapse (POP), significantly affects the quality of life of women. Despite its prevalence, awareness remains suboptimal, particularly in understudied populations such as women in Saudi Arabia. This study assessed and compared the knowledge of PFD between postpartum and menopausal women in the central region.

Methods

A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among 374 women aged 18-70 years, classified as postpartum (women who had delivered a child within the past 12 months, regardless of breastfeeding status or menstrual cycle regularity) or menopausal (women aged 45 or above with at least 12 consecutive months of amenorrhea in the absence of other pathological or iatrogenic causes). The validated Prolapse and Incontinence Knowledge Questionnaire (PIKQ) was used, with scores categorized into high (POP ≥6, UI ≥10) and low (POP <6, UI <10) awareness. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, and chi-square tests were used for the analysis (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 26 (Released 2019; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York), p<0.05).

Results

A total of 374 women participated, including 335 (89.6%) postpartum and 39 (10.4%) menopausal women. The mean age was 39.2 ± 11.7 years. High awareness of POP was observed in 263 (70.3%) participants, while 151 (40.4%) demonstrated high UI awareness. Postpartum women had significantly higher UI knowledge scores than menopausal women (mean = 8.57 vs. 7.51, p = 0.018); however, no significant difference was observed in POP knowledge (p = 0.566). Visiting a urologist or urogynecologist was more common in menopausal women (p = 0.001).

Conclusion

This study revealed a significant gap in UI awareness among menopausal women in the central region, despite the relatively high awareness of POP. Postpartum women demonstrated greater overall knowledge. These findings underscore the need for targeted educational initiatives across life stages to improve early recognition, reduce stigma, and encourage appropriate care of pelvic floor disorders.