What Are the Clinical Factors That Are Predictive of Persistent Pessary Use at 12 Months?

Urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse are highly prevalent in women and have a significant impact on quality of life. Pessaries are devices that are used as a conservative management option. Many women use pessaries, which avoid surgical intervention with its associated morbidity and cost. However, not all women are good candidates for pessary use. The objective of this study was to determine clinical factors leading to persistent pessary use for incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse in a tertiary care centre at 12 months. Studying patient characteristics for long-term pessary use will contribute to better patient counselling, management, and health resource distribution.

This study was a retrospective outpatient chart review of new pessary fittings in patients in a tertiary care urogynaecology clinic between January and June 2014. Any woman over 18 years of age fitted with a pessary at that time was included in the study. All statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics version. 24 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) (Canadian Task Force Classification II-3).

A total of 152 women were fitted with pessaries. A multivariable logistic regression analysis found that a patient's diagnosis of prolapse or incontinence (P = 0.01) and a lack of complications (P < 0.0001) were statistically significant for persistent pessary use at 12 months. Patients with prolapse had 7.7 times higher odds (95% CI 1.51-39.35) of using a pessary at 12 months than did patients with incontinence. Patients without complications had 250 times higher odds (95% CI 18.52-2500) of pessary use. Patients who tried two to three pessaries had 16 times higher odds (95% CI 1.80-137.00) of persistent use than patients who trialed just one.

This study has found that a lack of complications, the number of pessaries tried, and a primary diagnosis of prolapse are significant factors for continued pessary use at 12 months.