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Do women have an accurate perception of their pelvic floor muscle contraction? A cross‐sectional study
Author(s) -
Uechi Natalia,
Fernandes Ana C. N. L.,
Bø Kari,
Freitas Letícia M.,
Ossa Aura M. P.,
Bueno Sabrina M.,
Ferreira Cristine H. J.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
neurourology and urodynamics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.918
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1520-6777
pISSN - 0733-2467
DOI - 10.1002/nau.24214
Subject(s) - medicine , correlation , observational study , pelvic floor , urinary incontinence , cross sectional study , pelvic floor muscle , spearman's rank correlation coefficient , perception , contraction (grammar) , physical therapy , statistics , surgery , psychology , mathematics , pathology , geometry , neuroscience
Aims To assess women's self‐perception of their pelvic floor muscle (PFM) contraction and its agreement with an assessed PFM contraction. Further, to assess a possible correlation between women's self‐perception and reports of urinary incontinence (UI) and between PFM contraction and severity of UI. Methods A cross‐sectional observational study including 82 women. The study was conducted in a basic healthcare unit in Brazil. PFM contraction was assessed by a physiotherapist and estimated by women using the Modified Oxford Scale (MOS). UI symptoms were assessed using a validated questionnaire (ICIQ‐UI‐SF). A descriptive analysis of the data was performed. The weighted κ coefficient, Spearman's correlation coefficient, and Fisher's exact test were used to analyze data. Results Eighty‐two women with a mean age of 46.83 (±17.94) were analyzed. The majority (98.8%) believed they were able to voluntarily contract their PFM, but only 33% correctly estimated their PFM considering the examiner assessment as reference. No agreement ( κ = 0.139, P = .087) was found between the examiner's classification and the women's estimation of their PFM contraction. Women's self‐perception did not correlate with the ICIQ‐IU‐SF ( r 's = .011, P = .922). A moderate negative correlation was found between the assessed PFM contraction and the ICIQ‐UI‐SF score ( r 's = −.406, P = .00). Conclusion Most of the women did not show an accurate self‐perception of PFM contraction. No correlation between women's self‐perception and the ICIQ‐UI‐SF score was found, but a negative correlation was found between the assessed PFM contraction and the ICIQ‐UI‐SF score.