Aging and pelvic floor dysfunction / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the pelvic floor muscle functioning of persons with pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) at different ages in order to provide a reference for clinical treatment.Methods:A total of 580 PFD patients were divided into group A ( n=163, ≤29 years old), Group B ( n=161, 30-39), Group C ( n=114, 40-49), Group D ( n=128, 50-59) and Group E ( n=14, ≥60 years old). All were given a surface electromyography (sEMG) examination of their pelvic floor muscles. Average sEMG amplitude and its variability were recorded in the pre-resting and post-resting stages. The maximum sEMG amplitude and its rise time and recovery time during rapid contraction of pelvic floor muscles were recorded. Average sEMG amplitude and variability were also recorded during slow muscle contraction. The observations were correlated with the age. Results:Significant differences among the 5 groups were found in all of the measurements. Spearman correlation analysis showed that age was positively correlated with the variation in the sEMG amplitudes in the pre-resting stage, with the rise time and with the recovery time. Age also correlated with the maximum sEMG amplitude in the rapid stage, the variation of the EMG amplitude in the slow-muscle stage, and the EMG amplitude in the post-resting stage. But it was negatively correlated with the average sEMG amplitude during pelvic floor contraction.Conclusions:The stability and coordination of the pelvic floor muscles gradually deteriorates with age. The rate of activation and recovery become slower, with prolonged recruitment, slower response and poor excitability.