Parity, mode of birth, and long-term gynecological health: A follow-up study of parous and nonparous women in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health cohort.

Background: Although gynecological health issues are common and cause considerable distress, little is known about their causes. We examined how birth history is associated with urinary incontinence (UI), severe period pain, heavy periods, and endometriosis.

Methods: We studied 7700 women in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health with an average follow-up of 10.