Assessment of the predictive value of a bowel symptom questionnaire in identifying perianal and anal sphincter trauma after vaginal delivery.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether a postpartum bowel-habit questionnaire could reliably identify females who had sustained perineal and anal sphincter trauma after vaginal delivery.

Methods: A prospective cohort design was used to recruit 156 consecutive primigravid females, of whom 134 delivered vaginally without clinical evidence of a third-degree tear. These 134 females completed a specific anal continence questionnaire and underwent anal endosonography before and after delivery to identify those with postpartum deterioration in anal continence and to relate this to sonographic evidence of anoperineal trauma.

Results: Anal continence deteriorated in 37 females (27.6 percent) after delivery, 16 of whom (43.2 percent) had sonographic evidence of trauma. There was no postpartum deterioration of continence in the remaining 97 females, 17 (17.5 percent) of whom had sonographic evidence of trauma. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the questionnaire for sonographic trauma were 48.5, 79.2, 43.2, and 82.5 percent, respectively, with corresponding values of 57.1, 75.8, 21.6, and 93.8 percent for external anal sphincter disruption.

Conclusion: A bowel-habit questionnaire will detect approximately 60 percent of females who sustain external sphincter tears after vaginal delivery.