Epidemiology of pelvic floor disorders between urban and rural female inhabitants.

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of pelvic organ prolapse in urban and rural women and to identify possible related factors. They were 1749 participants; one thousand four hundred seventeen (81%) urban women and 332 rural residents (19%). The urban and rural women were congruently regarding to age, parity, using oral contraceptives and postmenopausal status. The urban women were more often obese (p < 0.01), estrogen replacement users (p < 0.001), smokers (p < 0.001), with mild (p < 0.001) and high (p < 0.001) education, and they were often divorced (p < 0.05) than rural women. Rural women were more often alcohol consumers (p < 0.001), with low level of education (p < 0.001) and more often married (p < 0.05) than rural examinees. There were no association between the presence of prolapse and: weight, menopausal status, oral contraceptives and estrogen replacement using, smoking, alcohol consuming and marital status. There were not observed differences in prevalence of prior hysterectomy, urinary incontinence, uroinfectio, sexual and bowel dysfunction between both groups. The prevalence of cystocele, rectocele and uterine prolapse were similar among urban and rural participants. In conclusion, a more complete picture of factors associated with genital prolapse would include in investigation, such as molecular and genetic ones.