Impact on quality of life after ring pessary use for pelvic organ prolapse

The purpose of this study was to evaluate symptoms associated with pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and quality of life (QOL) improvement in patients who continue ring pessary use at 1 year.

Seventy-seven symptomatic POP patients had successful fitting, and 64 patients (83.1%) continued use at 1 year. The Thai version of Prolapse Quality of Life (P-QOL) questionnaire was used to evaluate symptoms associated with POP and impact on QOL. A higher score represents a greater impairment on the QOL, whereas a lower score represents a better QOL.

Mean age was 66.7 ± 8.6 years, median parity was 4 (range 0-10), 59 patients (92.2%) were menopausal, and none had received hormone treatment. Only nine patients (14.1%) were sexually active. Most patients were in the advanced stage of POP - 32.8% stage 3 and 29.7% stage 4. Improvement of prolapse symptoms and voiding difficulty were reported in 100% and 85.7% of the patients, respectively. Among patients who had lower urinary tract symptoms at pre-treatment, about half of patients improvement in frequency, urgency, and urgency urinary incontinence. Only 9.1% of the patients had improvement in stress urinary incontinence (SUI), and 23.8% of the patients reported new onset of SUI (de novo SUI). The median score from all P-QOL domains except personal relationships were significantly decreased after 1 year of ring pessary use. The median total scores at baseline and at 1 year were 40 and 8, respectively (P < 0.001).

Ring pessary is an effective non-surgical treatment to alleviate symptoms associated with POP. It can improve QOL in symptomatic POP patients.