Influence of age, BMI and parity on the success rate of midurethral slings for stress urinary incontinence

Our aim was to evaluate, in a second data analysis of the prospective randomized controlled trial conducted by Austrian Urogynaecology Working Group, the effect of age, BMI and parity at the time of surgery on short- and long-term outcomes of women primarily treated for SUI (stress urinary incontinence) with midurethral slings.

In the original study 554 patients received randomly a retropubic (TVT) or a transobturator midurethral (TVT-O) sling procedure. 480 (87%) and 277 (50%) patients were available for a follow-up efficacy evaluation at 3 months and 5 years respectively.

Higher age and BMI at surgery appear to lead to a larger probability to have a positive stress test 5 years after surgery, but not after 3 months. Older patients seem to have a worse perception of improvement 5 years after surgery as compared to younger ones, as described by the PGI-I score. Age and BMI do not affect significantly the quality of life of women surgically treated for SUI, as reflected by the results of King´s Health Questionnaire. Parity does not seem to have any effect on objective and subjective surgical outcomes.

Higher age and BMI at surgery have a detrimental influence on the objective cure rate at 5 years after midurethral sling surgery; higher age also has a negative influence on subjective long-term outcomes. However, these demographic parameters do not influence significantly the quality of life of patients after anti-incontinence surgery. Parity does not show any significant influence on success rate of midurethral sling.

PloS one. 2018 Aug 16*** epublish ***

Rosa Maria Laterza, Ksenia Halpern, Daniela Ulrich, Alexandra Graf, Karl Tamussino, Wolfgang Umek, Austrian TVT vs. TVT-O Study Group

Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Division of General Gynaecology and Gynaecologic Oncology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria., Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria., Center for Medical Statistics, Informatics and Intelligent Systems, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.