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Updated: May 19, 2026

Anogenital Distance and Perineal Measurements of the Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) Quantification System
Published on: September 20, 2018
The familiality of pelvic organ prolapse in the Utah Population Database
Peggy A Norton1, Kristina Allen-Brady, Lisa A Cannon-Albright
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, USA. peggy.norton@hsc.utah.edu
Introduction And Hypothesis:
Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) in women is a common condition whose etiology is poorly understood. There is increasing evidence that POP is heritable. The aim of our study was to define and evaluate familial clustering of POP.
Methods:
Using a population-based Utah genealogy linked to more than a decade of hospital data, we calculated relative risks (RR) of POP in female relatives of women with POP using age- and birth year-specific rates of POP. We compared the average pairwise relatedness of all POP cases to the population using a measure of genetic distance.
Results:
We identified 1,292 women with diagnostic and procedure codes for POP. The RR of POP was significantly elevated in first- and third-degree female relatives (RR 4.15, p < 0.001; RR 1.24, p = 0.05). The average pairwise relatedness for all individuals with POP was significantly higher than expected (p < 0.001).
Conclusions:
These results strongly support a significant heritable contribution to POP.
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