Department of Physiotherapy, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Lagoa Nova, Natal, RN Brazil.
Empresa Brasileira de Serviços Hospitalares, University Hospital Ana Bezerra, Santa Cruz, Brazil.
Physiother Theory Pract. 2021 Jun;37(6):755-761. doi: 10.1080/09593985.2019.1642428. Epub 2019 Jul 11.
Some respiratory muscles work in synergy with the pelvic floor (PF). Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is characterized by weak PF muscles and has been associated with worse pulmonary ventilation function in women. To date no studies have investigated the association between respiratory muscle strength and POP. This study aimed to determine whether symptomatic POP is associated with respiratory muscle strength in middle-aged and older women. In this observational cross-sectional study, 204 community-dwelling women (41-80 years old) from Santa Cruz (Northeastern Brazil) provided information on socioeconomic characteristics, health behavior, reproductive history and symptomatic POP via a structured questionnaire. A digital manometer was used to measure their maximal inspiratory and expiratory pressures (MIP and MEP). Multiple linear regression analyses, adjusted for covariates (age, income, education, body mass index, and smoking), evaluated the association between POP and MIP/MEP. The results show that 14.7% of the sample reported symptomatic POP. These women exhibited lower mean MIP and MEP than those reporting no POP, but the intergroup difference was only significant for MEP ( = .01). The association between POP and MEP remained statistically significant, even after covariates (β = 11.9, = .04) were adjusted. Symptomatic POP is associated with expiratory muscle strength in middle-aged and older women. This innovative research provides important information regarding the need to evaluate the integrity of PF muscles when assessing respiratory muscle strength, which may help clinicians devise preventive and treatment strategies to improve women's health during the aging process.
一些呼吸肌与盆底肌（PF）协同工作。盆腔器官脱垂（POP）的特征是 PF 肌肉较弱，并与女性更差的肺通气功能有关。迄今为止，尚无研究调查呼吸肌力量与 POP 之间的关系。本研究旨在确定有症状的 POP 是否与中年和老年女性的呼吸肌力量有关。在这项观察性横断面研究中，来自巴西东北部圣克鲁斯的 204 名社区居住的女性（41-80 岁）通过结构化问卷提供了社会经济特征、健康行为、生育史和有症状的 POP 信息。数字测压计用于测量最大吸气和呼气压力（MIP 和 MEP）。多元线性回归分析，调整了协变量（年龄、收入、教育、体重指数和吸烟），评估了 POP 与 MIP/MEP 之间的关系。结果表明，14.7%的样本报告有症状的 POP。这些女性的平均 MIP 和 MEP 低于没有报告 POP 的女性，但组间差异仅在 MEP 上有统计学意义（ = 0.01）。即使调整了协变量（β=11.9， = 0.04），POP 与 MEP 之间的关联仍然具有统计学意义。有症状的 POP 与中年和老年女性的呼气肌力量有关。这项创新性研究提供了有关在评估呼吸肌力量时评估 PF 肌肉完整性的重要信息，这可能有助于临床医生制定预防和治疗策略，以改善女性在衰老过程中的健康状况。
