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Updated: Mar 23, 2026

Quantification of Levator Ani Hiatus Enlargement by Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Males and Females with Pelvic Organ Prolapse
Published on: April 17, 2019
Pelvic floor muscle function, pelvic floor dysfunction and diastasis recti abdominis: Prospective cohort study
Kari Bø1,2, Gunvor Hilde2, Merete Kolberg Tennfjord1
1Department of Sports Medicine, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway.
Aims:
Compare vaginal resting pressure (VRP), pelvic floor muscle (PFM) strength, and endurance in women with and without diastasis recti abdominis at gestational week 21 and at 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months postpartum. Furthermore, to compare prevalence of urinary incontinence (UI) and pelvic organ prolapse (POP) in the two groups at the same assessment points.
Methods:
This is a prospective cohort study following 300 nulliparous pregnant women giving birth at a public university hospital. VRP, PFM strength, and endurance were measured with vaginal manometry. ICIQ-UI-SF questionnaire and POP-Q were used to assess UI and POP. Diastasis recti abdominis was diagnosed with palpation of ≥2 fingerbreadths 4.5 cm above, at, or 4.5 cm below the umbilicus.
Results:
At gestational week 21 women with diastasis recti abdominis had statistically significant greater VRP (mean difference 3.06 cm H2 O [95%CI: 0.70; 5.42]), PFM strength (mean difference 5.09 cm H2 O [95%CI: 0.76; 9.42]) and PFM muscle endurance (mean difference 47.08 cm H2 O sec [95%CI: 15.18; 78.99]) than women with no diastasis. There were no statistically significant differences between women with and without diastasis in any PFM variables at 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months postpartum. No significant difference was found in prevalence of UI in women with and without diastasis at any assessment points. Six weeks postpartum 15.9% of women without diastasis had POP versus 4.1% in the group with diastasis (P = 0.001).
Conclusions:
Women with diastasis were not more likely to have weaker PFM or more UI or POP. Neurourol. Urodynam. 36:716-721, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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