ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: The International Continence Society (ICS) adopted 1.3 g as the normative value for the 24-h pad test. We hypothesized that this cutoff value may not be valid for women who live in countries with high temperatures. METHODS: We documented the 24-h pad test values of continent women in Brazil and investigated the factors that can influence in vaginal humidity. RESULTS: The sample consisted of 257 participants. The temperatures ranged from 19°C to 27.8°C. The median increase in the weight of the pad was 1.9 g (1.4-3.0 g, 95th percentile 4.4 g). Pad test results differed significantly between pre- and postmenopausal women (p = 0.026). There was a significant difference in the pad weights of women who use hormone therapy (p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: The value of the 24-h pad test established by the ICS was not valid for the investigated sample. Environmental conditions, menopausal status, and use of hormone therapy can interfere with the values of the pad test.
Subject(s)
Diagnostic Techniques, Urological/instrumentation , Incontinence Pads , Urinary Incontinence/diagnosis , Urination/physiology , Vagina/metabolism , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Brazil/epidemiology , Circadian Rhythm/physiology , Equipment Design , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Incidence , Middle Aged , Prospective Studies , Reproducibility of Results , Severity of Illness Index , Time Factors , Urinary Incontinence/epidemiology , Urinary Incontinence/physiopathology , Young AdultABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: The objective of the present study was to investigate the tensile biomechanical properties of the human female bladder. METHODS: Tissue samples were obtained from 13 cadavers without pelvic floor dysfunctions. We performed uniaxial tensile tests to measure the stiffness and maximum stress of the bladder tissue. Correlations were calculated using the Pearson correlation coefficient. RESULTS: The bladder tissue stiffness ranged from 1 to 4.1 MPa (mean stiffness, 1.9 ± 0.2 MPa) and the maximum stress ranged from 0.5 to 2.6 MPa (mean maximum stress, 0.9 ± 0.1 MPa). There was a strong positive correlation between stiffness and maximum stress in the bladder tissue (ρ = 0.829, p < 0.001). Tissue from women younger than 50 years presented higher bladder stiffness than did tissue from older subjects (2.1 ± 0.2 versus 1.3 ± 0.1 MPa, p = 0.02). Maximum bladder stress, however, was not associated with age (1.0 ± 0.2 versus 0.7 ± 0.1 MPa, p = 0.349). In addition, body mass index and menopausal status were not associated with these biomechanical properties. CONCLUSIONS: Age may influence the uniaxial mechanical behavior of the human female bladder.
