Pelvic pain and surgeries in women before interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome

Abstract

Objective: The objective of the study was to compare subjects with interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome (IC/PBS) with controls on prior surgeries.

Study design: IC/PBS subjects were compared with matched controls on surgeries and possible surgical indications prior to their index dates.

Results: Adjusted for demographic variables, logistic regression showed subjects exceeded controls in surgeries longer than 12 months and less than 1 month before the index date. However, addition of possible surgical indications showed chronic pelvic pain (CPP) to have a strong association with IC/PBS, whereas associations with surgeries were reduced to nonsignificance.

Conclusion: Although women with IC/PBS were more likely to have experienced prior surgeries than controls, the apparent indications for surgeries, not the surgeries themselves, were stronger risk factors for IC/PBS. In particular, a prior history of CPP had a strong association with IC/PBS. Several features of study design, including extensive medical record review, suggest that prior CPP was not undiagnosed IC/PBS. Further investigation of CPP may yield insight into the pathogenesis of IC/PBS.