Main Findings
In this study, we focused on the association of previous and current
physical activity with pelvic floor disorders in middle-aged women. Over
half of the women in our total analytical sample had symptoms of urinary
or fecal incontinence, constipation or defecation difficulties, or
pelvic organ prolapse. We found that higher current physical activity
was associated with lower risk of stress urinary incontinence, but
association did not remain after adding confounding factors into the
same model. Current physical activity was not associated with any other
pelvic floor disorder. Women with history of competitive sports were
more likely to experience urge urinary incontinence according to pooled
simple and multiple logistic regression models controlled with
confounders. Early adulthood competitive sport participation did not
associate with other pelvic floor dysfunction types. Similarly, women
with history of regular physical activity were more likely to experience
fecal incontinence but no significant associations were found for other
pelvic floor disorders.