The Association between women's pelvic organ prolapse and joint hypermobility

Objective: to determine whether joint hypermobility is associated with pelvic organ prolapse. methods: the case-control study was conducted from january to april 2011 and comprised 30 women with pelvic organ prolapse, stage ≥ ii and 30 controls with stages 0 and i with similar age and parity. they were recruited from the gynaecology clinic at imam reza hospital in mashhad, iran. the condition was evaluated by a quantification system and, for the purposes of this study, pelvic organ prolapse was defined as stage ≥ ii. all the subjects were examined in the dorsal lithotomic position with an empty bladder. a separate investigator evaluated each subject for joint hypermobility by using beighton score which was calculated by doing five simple manoeuvres. spss 11.5 was used for data analysis. results: the mean age of the 30 cases was 35.40±6.39 years, while for the controls it was 35.36±5.9 years. overall clinical joint hypermobility was found in 24 of the 60 (40%) subjects. there were no significant difference in the prevalence of joint hypermobility between the two groups. the prevalence of hypermobility in the cases was 36.7% (n=11) versus 43.3% (n=13) in the controls (p= 0.59). the prevalence of cystocele in subjects with joint hypermobility was 41.7% (n=10) versus 38.9% (n=14), (p <0.83); rectocele 33.3% (n=8) versus 41.7% (n=15), (p <0.73) women with normal joint mobility. no significant differences were found between the groups with regard to other markers of connective tissue weakness such as the presence of varicose veins (p<0.37), easy bruising (p<0.43) and observed striae (p<0.42). conclusion: joint hypermobility was not associated with pelvic organ prolapse in the study population. further studies involving more patients with pelvic organ prolapse are recommended.