Antenatal and postnatal assessment of pelvic floor muscles in continent and incontinent primigravida women

Introduction and hypothesis Reduced pelvic floor muscle (PFM) strength and thickness are considered critical factors in pregnancy-related stress urinary incontinence. Various methods have been evaluated for the measurement of these two factors, but validity needs to be well established. The objective was to assess the strength and thickness of pelvic floor muscles of continent and incontinent primigravida women using the digital method and transperineal ultrasound, and to study the correlation between the two methods. Methods Assessment of pelvic floor muscle strength and thickness using digital assessment and transperineal ultrasound antepartum and postpartum in 100 primigravida women. Results A total of 100 primigravida women with 46 in the study group (incontinent) and 54 in the control group (continent) were assessed. PFM strength was lower in incontinent women, with a score of 3 or less in 82.61% (38 out of 46) compared with a score of 4 or more in 98.15% of continent women (53 out of 54; p < 0.0001) antenatally, as well as postnatally, with 81.25% of the incontinent women (26 out of 32), with a score of 3 or less compared with 100% of continent women (24 out of 24), with a score of 4 or more (p < 0.0001). The PFM thickness in the incontinent group compared with the continent group at relaxation was 5.94 +/- 0.51 mm and 6.64 +/- 0.26 mm (p < 0.0001) antenatally and 5.98 +/- 0.55 mm and 6.69 +/- 0.23 mm (p < 0.0001) postnatally; at contraction it was 7.29 +/- 0.56 mm and 8.70 +/- 0.24 mm (p < 0.0001) antenatally and 7.39 +/- 0.56 mm and 8.77 +/- 0.20 mm (p < 0.0001) postnatally. The Pearson correlation coefficient for the two methods during the antenatal and postpartum periods was 0.864 and 0.743 respectively, suggestive of a positive correlation between the two methods. Conclusions Pelvic floor muscle strength, as well as thickness, is significantly lower among the incontinent group than among the continent group, both during antenatal and during the postnatal period.