Inter-rater reliability study of the Peritron™ perineometer in pregnant women

Abstract

Objective: To assess the inter-rater reliability of two raters for the mean and single maximal value of three vaginal maximum voluntary contractions (MVCs) using the Peritron™ perineometer for study participants in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy.

Participants: Thirty-six low-risk pregnant women.

Methods: The assessments were done by two different examiners with an interval of 2 to 7 days. For statistical analysis, the concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) and Bland-Altman limits of agreement were used.

Results: For the overall sample, good reliability of 0.80 was found analyzing the mean of three MVCs and for the single maximal value (CCC = 0.79). Good reliability was found for the mean of three MVCs (0.81 and 0.78) for the first and second trimesters, respectively. Good reliability of 0.89 was found in the first trimester and a moderate reliability of 0.70 for the second trimester when analyzing the single maximal value of three MVCs.

Conclusion: Good inter-rater reliability was found for the overall sample and first trimester of pregnancy for both mean values and single maximal values of the three MVCs. A good and moderate reliability was respectively found in the second trimester in analyzing the mean and single maximum values of three MVCs.

Keywords: Assessment; pelvic floor; physiotherapy; pregnancy; reliability.