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Updated: Jun 13, 2026

Anogenital Distance and Perineal Measurements of the Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) Quantification System
Published on: September 20, 2018
Prevalence of bowel symptoms in women with pelvic floor disorders
Fareesa Raza-Khan1, Jacqueline Cunkelman, Lior Lowenstein
1Division of Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, Urogynecology Consultants, St. Louis, MO 63128, USA. fareesa4@yahoo.com
Introduction And Hypothesis:
To determine the prevalence of a variety of bowel symptoms in women with pelvic floor disorders
Methods:
We reviewed charts of consecutive new patients presenting to our urogynecologic clinic between July 2006 and April 2008. Women completed two bowel symptom questionnaires: (1) a nonvalidated questionnaire inquiring about symptoms of fecal/flatal incontinence, painful bowel movements, difficulties in bowel movement, and the need for splinting and (2) the validated, Colorectal-Anal Distress Inventory (CRADI) subscale of the short form of the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory. Demographic and clinical information were extracted from patients' charts.
Results:
Four hundred sixty-three women were included. Only 3% of the women presented with defecatory dysfunction or fecal incontinence as their chief complaint. However, 83% answered affirmatively to the presence of at least one CRADI bowel symptom. The most common bowel symptom was incomplete emptying at the end of a bowel movement (56%), followed by straining to have a bowel movement (55%), and flatal incontinence (54%).
Conclusions:
Women rarely seek urogynecologic care primarily for bowel symptoms, although they have a high prevalence of bowel symptoms.
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