Comparison of techniques used for functional evaluation of pelvic floor muscles

Objetivo: Identificar e discutir técnicas de avaliação dos músculos do assoalho pélvico (MAP) enfocando as mais usadas e acessíveis na assistência à saúde. Métodos: Trata-se de um estudo exploratório, com pesquisa descritiva e aplicada, e abordagem quantitativa. A coleta de dados foi realizada no período de março a junho de 2016 em uma instituição de ensino superior da cidade de João Pessoa-PB. Inicialmente, 31 adultas jovens e saudáveis foram submetidas à avaliação do assoalho pélvico utilizando os métodos: PERFECT, cones vaginais, perineometria com Perina e Peritron. Em seguida, as participantes se submeteram a exercícios para fortalecer os MAP. As variáveis quantificadas pelos diferentes métodos também foram registadas 30 e 60 dias após o início do programa. Aplicou-se ANOVA para medidas repetidas e teste de correlação Spearman`s em 5% entre os instrumentos de avaliação. Resultados: A avaliação funcional com todos os métodos foi adequada na avaliação dos MAP. Na palpação digital (PERFECT), a resposta de resistência (E) mostrou correlação positiva com o Perina (rho= 0.688) e com os cones vaginais (rho= 0.571), por sua vez, a força muscular (P) teve correlação positiva com a técnica do Peritron (rho= 0.506). Conclusão: Várias são as maneiras de avaliar a função do MAP e todas promovem feedback sensorial ao paciente. Com relação aos baixos custos da palpação digital, a introdução dessa técnica em serviços de saúde feminina provavelmente proporcionará melhora da qualidade de vida das mulheres.Objetivo: Identificar y discutir técnicas de evaluación de los músculos del suelo pélvico (MSP) con énfasis en las técnicas más utilizadas y asequibles para el cuidado de la salud. Métodos: Estudio exploratorio de abordaje descriptivo y cuantitativo aplicado en investigación. La recogida de datos se dio entre marzo y junio de 2016 en una institución de educación superior de la ciudad de João Pessoa, PB, Brasil. A principio fue realizada la evaluación del suelo pélvico en 31 mujeres jóvenes y saludables con los siguientes métodos: PERFECTO, conos vaginales, perineometria con Perine y Peritron. Después las participantes realizaron ejercicios para fortalecimiento de los MSP. Las variables cuantificadas por métodos distintos fueron también registradas en 30 y 60 días después del inicio del programa. Se aplicó la ANOVA para medidas repetidas y la correlación de Spearman fue aplicada en el 5% de los instrumentos de evaluación. Resultados: La evaluación funcional con todos los métodos ha sido adecuada para la evaluación de los MSP. En la palpación digital (PERFECTO) la respuesta de resistencia (E) mostró una correlación positiva con la Perina (rho = 0.688) y los conos vaginales (rho = 0.571) y la fuerza del músculo (P) tuvo una correlación positiva con la técnica Peritron (Rho = 0.506). Conclusión: Hay varias maneras de evaluar la función de los músculos del suelo pélvico y promover la respuesta sensorial al paciente. El método PERFECTO permite cuantificar la intensidad, el número de contracciones, ambos rápido y lento, así como la duración de la contracción de la musculatura perineal y, por lo tanto, aunque sea un método barato, ha sido sensible y específico para el objetivo estimado. Respecto los bajos costes de la palpación digital, la introducción de esa técnica en los servicios de salud para mujeres probablemente puede mejorar la calidad de vida de las mujeres.Objective: To identify and discuss techniques for evaluation of pelvic floor muscles (PFM) focusing on the most used and accessible techniques in health care. Methods: This is a quantitative exploratory and descriptive applied research. Data were collected from March to June 2016 at a higher education institution in the city of João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil. Initially, 31 healthy young women were submitted to pelvic floor evaluation using the following methods: PERFECT, vaginal cones, and perineometry using Perine and Peritron. The participants then performed exercises to strengthen PFM. The variables measured by the different methods were also recorded 30 and 60 days after the start of the program. ANOVA was used for repeated measures and Spearman's correlation test was used for the evaluation instruments with significance set at 5%. Results: The functional evaluation using all the methods was adequate in the PFM evaluation. In the digital palpation (PERFECT), the endurance response (E) was positively correlated to Perina (rho=0.688) and vaginal cones (rho=0.571), and muscle strength (P) was positively correlated to the Peritron technique (rho=0.506). Conclusion: There are several ways to evaluate PFM function and all of them provide sensory feedback to the patient. Given the low costs of digital palpation, the introduction of this technique into women's health services is likely to improve women's quality of life

Consistency of three different questionnaires for evaluating sexual function in healthy young women

Abstract Background Most studies on female sexual dysfunction are performed in population inventories and under specific clinical conditions. These approaches are performed using validated psychometric scales. Different scales to assess sexual function use different numbers of questions to characterize their domains. They also may or may not include domains of interaction between sexual partners. The objective of this study was to compare the precision between scales to be able to analyze their accuracy for better diagnosis of sexual dysfunction. Methods Fifty (50) healthy young women were enrolled in this study. Three questionnaires (FSFI, SQ-F, and GRISS) were applied to assess sexual function (n = 44). The accuracy measured by the area under the ROC curve (AUC) for individual domains and to cross-validated pairwise comparison of the three analyzed instruments was used. Kruskall-Wallis test to analyze individual domains of the scales was also used.The P-value was established as 0.05. Results The results showed that all domains and total FSFI and GRISS scores were significantly different between normal and dysfunctional women, but not for SQ-F domains. Indeed, AUC accuracy varied from excellent-good domain discrimination for FSFI and GRISS, but fair-poor for SQ-F. For the paired comparison between the three questionnaires a fair accuracy was detected. The specificity percentage was around 84% whereas that for sensibility was low, around 30%. Conclusions The best agreement was between FSFI and SQ-F, probably being related to high similar shared questions when compared to GRISS. The agreement between SQ-F and GRISS was low possible due to low number of questions in SQ-F to characterize similar domains. This study evidenced high agreement between scales to sensitivity and low agreement for specificity, thereby conferring fair accuracy between them. Thus, the limited grade for discriminatory capacity (AUC) for sexual response should be considered when comparing results from these three different questionnaires and also when comparing with other different scales. In addition, despite the diversity of scales, the high reliability and fit for their desire domain suggest that the FSFI scale has good accuracy for the current clinical assessment of women’s sexual health. Clinical trial registration NCT03241524. Retrospectively registered on 08/02/2017