Goal attainment after treatment in patients with symptomatic pelvic organ prolapse.

Objective: The objectives of this study were to: (1) assess differences in goal attainment of self-described goals after treatment of symptomatic pelvic organ prolapse (POP) for women who chose surgery compared to women who chose pessary; and (2) compare patient global improvement between groups.

Study Design: Women who had symptomatic stage ≥II prolapse presenting for care of POP to the urogynecology clinic at the University of New Mexico were recruited. Patients listed up to 3 goals they had for their treatment. In addition, they completed the short forms of the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory (PFDI-20), the POP/Urinary Incontinence Sexual Questionnaire, and the Body Image Scale. Goals listed by patients were then categorized into 10 categories. Each of the listed goals was categorized based on a consensus of 5 providers. At 3 months' follow-up patients listed if they had met their self-described goals on a scale of 0-10 and also answered the Patient Global Improvement Index (PGI-I).

Results: There were no significant differences between the 2 groups' baseline characteristics. Surgery patients ranked their goal attainment higher than pessary patients for all the 3 goals listed. Similarly, PGI-I scores were also higher in the surgical (2.4 ± 1.1) than the pessary (1.93 ± 0.8) treatment groups (P < .04). Patients in the surgery group also had better symptom improvement as measured by the PFDI-20 (P < .02).

Conclusion: Patients who chose surgery had better global improvement and met their goals better compared to patients who chose pessary.