Quality of life among women with pelvic organ prolapse in West Ethiopia: A hospital-based study.

Background: Pelvic organ prolapse is among the common gynecologic problems worldwide. Although mortality from pelvic organ prolapse is rare, it burdens social, psychological, economic, daily activities, and sexual life.

Objectives: To assess the quality of life and associated factors among women with pelvic organ prolapse attending hospitals in Western, Ethiopia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at four hospitals in West Ethiopia, from January 1 to June 15, 2023, involving women with pelvic organ prolapse. A single population proportion formula (95% confidence, 23.52% prevalence, 0.05 margin of error) yielded a sample size of 276. A validated quality of life tool by Digesu (2005) on the Prolapse quality of life questionnaire was administered by trained staff to assess quality of life. Data were analyzed using SPSS (version 26), employing descriptive statistics and bivariate analyses, with candidate variables for multivariable analysis selected at a p value of 0.25. Multivariable linear regression was performed after assessing model fit, considering a p < 0.05 as statistically significant.

Results: A total of 232 (84.1% response rate) women attending or followed by four participating hospitals were involved in the study. The mean age of all women was 50.7 ± 9.2 years. Most of the participants (81.9%) were married; however, three women (1.3%) who were not married also developed a prolapse. Nearly a third (30.2%) had attended primary school; however, only 70 (30.2%) had no formal education. More than three-fourths (78.9%) had no mental or medical illnesses. The prolapse quality of life score was 45.3 ± 4.1. The higher quality of life was contributed to by sleep/energy and severity measures. Attending tertiary education and living with comorbidities were associated with quality of life.

Conclusion: The quality of life of women living with pelvic organ prolapse was similar. It is affected by education levels and the presence of comorbidities. Further studies are warranted to establish the factors associated with quality of life by recruiting subjects through probability sampling methods.