MIAMI, FL USA (UroToday.com) - This was an interesting study whose aim was to describe the symptoms and course of IC/BPS throughout pregnancy and with subsequent pregnancies.
The method was an Internet-based, anonymous, 50-item survey sent between February 2011 and June 2011. IC/BPS symptoms were rated on a 5-point Likert scale and collected pre-gestation, first, second, and third trimesters, and post-partum. There were 592 respondents, of whom 384 became pregnant after being diagnosed with IC.
Seventy-three percent discontinued IC interventions they had been using prior to pregnancy, and of the women who breastfed (71%, N=337), 52% felt symptoms were better during that time. The data seemed to indicate that pregnancy may improve pain, in the second trimester, in more than half of patients with IC/BPS and that breast feeding appears to improve IC/BPS symptoms in more than half of patients from their baseline symptom scores pre-pregnancy.
Presented by Peter O’Hare at the Society of Urodynamics, Female Pelvic Medicine and Urogenital Reconstruction (SUFU) Winter Meeting - February 25 - March 1, 2014 - Doral Golf Resort and Spa - Miami, Florida USA
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA USA
Reported for UroToday.com by Diane K. Newman, DNP, FAAN, BCB-PMD