BackgroundThis study was performed to compare changes in urinary incontinence (UI) symptoms and pelvic floor structure during pregnancy between nulliparous and multiparous women.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was performed among pregnant women from July 2016 to January 2017. In total, 358 pregnant women from two hospitals underwent an interview and pelvic floor transperineal ultrasound assessment. A questionnaire regarding sociodemographic, gynecological, obstetric features and the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-SF) were used for the interview. Imaging data sets were analyzed offline to assess the bladder neck vertical position (BNVP), urethral angles (α, β, and γ angles), and hiatal area (HA) at rest and at maximal Valsalva maneuver (VM).ResultsAfter excluding 16 women with invalid data, 342 women were included. The prevalence (χ2 = 9.15, P = 0.002), frequency (t = 2.52, P = 0.014), usual amount of UI (t = 2.23, P = 0.029) and scores of interference with daily life (t = 2.03, P = 0.045) during pregnancy were higher in multiparous than nulliparous women. A larger bladder neck descent (BND) (F = 4.398, P < 0.001), HA (F = 6.977, P < 0.001), α angle (F = 2.178, P = 0.030), β angle (F = 4.404, P < 0.001), and γ angle (F = 2.54, P = 0.011) at VM were discovered in pregnant women with UI than without UI. Multiparous women had a significantly higher BND (t = 2.269, P = 0.024) and a larger α angle (F = 2.894, P = 0.004), β angle (F = 2.473, P = 0.014), and γ angle (F = 3.255, P = 0.001) at VM than did nulliparous women.ConclusionMultiparous women experienced more obvious UI symptoms and pelvic floor structure changes during pregnancy than did nulliparous women.

Objectives: To develop risk predictive models of postpartum stress urinary incontinence (SUI) for both primiparous and multiparous women. Materials and Methods: From July 2016 to July 2017, 815 singleton pregnant women without incontinence before pregnancy who were 18 years or older and admitted to 2 hospitals in Shenzhen, China, were enrolled. Pregnancy-related data were collected at enrollment. Delivery information was obtained from electronic medical records. Telephone follow-up was conducted to investigate SUI at 6 weeks postpartum. Multivariable logistic regression analyses using stepwise selection were used to establish predictive models for postpartum SUI for all women, and separately for primiparous and multiparous. Internal validation of the models was performed with discrimination and calibration using a bootstrapping (1,000 resampling) method. Results: The analysis included 727 participants. The prevalence of postpartum SUI was 15.96% (116/727), 12.5% (49/393) for primiparous women and 20.1% (67/334) for multiparous women, with a significant difference between them (p = 0.008). For primiparous women, the predictive postpartum SUI model included age, abortion/miscarriage history, SUI during pregnancy, and mode of delivery. For multiparous women, pre-pregnancy BMI, abortion/miscarriage history, SUI during pregnancy, and mode of delivery were included in the model. There was satisfactory calibration between the models' predicted probability of postpartum SUI and the observed probability for both primiparous and multiparous women (Hosmer-Lemeshow test, p = 0.390 for primiparous and 0.364 for multiparous women). The optimism-corrected C-statistic of the models by bootstrapping stepwise was 0.763 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.693-0.833) for primiparous women and 0.783 (95% CI: 0.726-0.841) for multiparous women. Conclusion: We developed predictive models of postpartum SUI for both primiparous and multiparous women. This approach may provide a useful tool for highrisk prediction of postpartum SUI before and after delivery.

The nomogram incorporating both the pelvic floor ultrasound parameters and clinical factors has been validated to show good discrimination and calibration, and could be an important tool for stress urinary incontinence risk prediction at an early stage of pregnancy.