ArticleActa obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica2023
Two year follow-up and comparison of pelvic floor muscle electromyography after first vaginal delivery with and without episiotomy and its correlation with urinary incontinence: A prospective cohort study.
Article in Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence and associated factors affecting pelvic floor disorder among women in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Exploring the application of an integrated health behavior change-based nursing model in pelvic floor muscle self-training.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Impact of Episiotomy on Postpartum Pain, Pelvic Floor Function, and Sexual Health: A Propensity Score-Matched Cohort Study and Prediction Model Development.International urogynecology journal · 2026Article
- Magnitude and factors associated with urinary incontinence among postpartum women in Northwest Ethiopia.Maternal health, neonatology and perinatology · 2026Article
- Development of an interpretable machine learning model for predicting stress urinary incontinence following the delivery of a first child.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Innovative electromyographic monitoring: Online nomogram for quantifying pelvic floor muscle strength in a multicenter study.Chinese medical journal · 2026Article
- Interpregnancy Interval and the Degree of Cystocele Across Two Vaginal Deliveries: A Retrospective Self-Controlled Cohort Study Using Transperineal Ultrasound.International journal of women's health · 2026Article
- The Effect of BeBoJournal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Two year follow-up and comparison of pelvic floor muscle electromyography after first vaginal delivery with and without episiotomy and its correlation with urinary incontinence: A prospective cohort study.Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
introductionFew prospective studies have revealed the long-term neuromuscular alterations of pelvic floor after vaginal delivery. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of episiotomy on the electrical activity of pelvic floor muscle 2 years following vaginal delivery, and explore the relation between surface electromyography (sEMG) amplitudes and urinary incontinence. MATERIAL AND
methodsA total of 427 primiparous women with full-term singleton vaginal delivery were included in the cohort and 362 with no further births within the 2 year follow-up completed observations. Of these, 200 underwent episiotomy and 162 underwent nonepisiotomy. Clinical demographic characteristics, vaginal EMG variables and urinary incontinence-specific questionnaire scores were collected at 6 weeks, 6, 12 and 24 months after childbirth, respectively. Primary outcomes were the comparison of sEMG values between the episiotomy and nonepisiotomy groups throughout 2 years. Secondary outcomes were the correlation between sEMG of both groups and the incidence and severity of urinary incontinence. Spearman's correlation analysis, Kruskal-Wallis test and ANOVA with Bonferroni correction were used to analyze the variables.
resultsAmplitude of maximal fast and endurance contractions on sEMG in the episiotomy group was significantly lower than the nonepisiotomy counterpart. Such difference of sEMG persisted for a long period after birth: endurance contraction, 33.12 ± 8.92 vs 35.085 ± 9.98, p < 0.01 at 24 months, and fast contraction, 36.53 ± 8.87 vs 39.05 ± 9.98, p = 0.01 at 12-month. Although there was no significant difference in incidence and severity of urinary incontinence between both groups, a negative correlation existed between EMG values of muscle contraction and urinary incontinence symptoms throughout.
conclusionsPrimiparous women delivered with episiotomy demonstrated lower contractile sEMG activity of pelvic floor muscle in the long term. The lower sEMG values of fast contraction were associated with urinary incontinence symptoms.
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