Ethnicity and variations of pelvic organ prolapse bother

Introduction and hypothesis To determine if prolapse symptom severity and bother varies among non-Hispanic white, Hispanic, and Native American women with equivalent prolapse stages on physical examination. Methods This was a retrospective chart review of new patients seen in an academic urogynecology clinic from January 2007 to September 2011. Data were extracted from a standardized intake form, including patients' self-identified ethnicity. All patients underwent a Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification (POPQ) examination and completed the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory-20 (PFDI-20) with its Pelvic Organ Prolapse Distress Inventory (POPDI) subscale. Results Five hundred and eighty-eight new patients were identified with pelvic organ prolapse. Groups did not differ by age, prior prolapse, and/or incontinence surgery, or sexual activity. Based on POPDI scores, Hispanic and Native American women reported more bother compared with non-Hispanic white women with stage 2 prolapse (p<0.01). Level of bother between Hispanic and Native American women with stage 2 prolapse (p=0.56) was not different. In subjects with . stage 3 prolapse, POPDI scores did not differ by ethnicity (p=0.24). In multivariate stepwise regression analysis controlling for significant factors, Hispanic and Native American ethnicity contributed to higher POPDI scores, as did depression. Conclusions Among women with stage 2 prolapse, both Hispanic and Native American women had a higher level of bother, as measured by the POPDI, compared with non- Hispanic white women. The level of symptom bother was not different between ethnicities in women with stage 3 prolapse or greater. Disease severity may overshadow ethnic differences at more advanced stages of prolapse.