Urethral pressure changes in response to squeeze: a population-based study in healthy and incontinent 53- to 63-year-old women.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the urethral pressure pattern during short squeezes in incontinent and healthy women before and after pelvic floor exercise and to correlate the findings with vaginal measurements. Sixty women with urinary incontinence and 28 healthy control subjects all aged 53 to 63 years were subject to urethral pressure measurements and vaginal palpation, pressure and surface electromyography measurements. Measurements were repeated after 4 months of pelvic floor exercise in the incontinent group. The appearance of the urethral pressure curve during a squeeze on a semiquantitative scale from 0 to 4, in the healthy group, was 2.2+/-0.3 and, in the incontinent group, was 1.5+/-0.2 (P<.0 5), rising to 2.2+/-0.2 after pelvic floor exercise (P<.01). The semiquantitative grading correlated with vaginal measurements. The increase of the urethral pressure in response to short squeeze is reduced significantly in incontinent women compared with healthy women of the same age and parity. A normalization was seen after pelvic floor exercise in the incontinent group.