Occupational lifting, pushing put women at risk of pelvic organ prolapse

Physically demanding jobs may be hazardous to women, with a recent study reporting that occupational load-bearing contributes to an increase in the risk of developing symptomatic pelvic organ prolapse during midlife.

The study was a secondary analysis of the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN) cohort study, involving 1,590 parous, perimenopausal women. Self-reported frequency of occupational lifting and/or pushing was categorized as follows: never, infrequent (less than half the time), or frequent (half the time or more).

Researchers used modified Poisson regression to examine the risk of pelvic organ prolapse according to load-bearing categories.

Over 10 years of follow-up, 8.2 percent of women developed new-onset pelvic organ prolapse. Multivariable analysis showed that women exposed to occupational lifting and/or pushing were at higher risk of developing pelvic organ prolapse than those who were never exposed. The risk increase was noted in the infrequent (adjusted risk ratio [aRR], 1.51, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.04–2.20) and frequent (aRR, 2.03, 95 percent CI, 1.29–3.17) load-bearing categories.

Furthermore, there was a graded association between the frequency of occupational load-bearing and risk of pelvic organ prolapse. For example, occupational lifting of weights more than 15 lbs might pose a higher risk than pushing.

The findings underscore the need for gender-based education and prevention strategies in the workplace and in primary healthcare to reduce the burden of pelvic organ prolapse among midlife women with physically demanding jobs.