Pelvic Organ Prolapse: What Increases Your Risk

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What Increases Your Risk

Pelvic organ prolapse is often related to stretching and pressure during labor and childbirth. It is less common in women who have never had children. Pelvic organ prolapse most often appears during menopause, as pelvic tissues damaged during childbearing age and lose strength.

Other factors that may increase the risk of developing pelvic organ prolapse include:³

• Obesity. Women who are overweight have increased pressure in the abdomen and have a higher rate of pelvic organ prolapse.
• Smoking and lung conditions that cause chronic coughing, which increases pressure in the abdomen and pelvis. Smoking also decreases your body's store of the protein collagen, which increases the likelihood that connective tissue in the pelvis may tear.
• Constipation. Chronic constipation causes increased pressure from the bowel on the vaginal wall.
• Certain occupations that require heavy lifting or jumping.
• Pelvic surgery, such as removal of the uterus (hysterectomy), which may damage support for a pelvic organ, resulting in movement of organs within the pelvis.
• Diseases of the nervous system. Pelvic organ prolapse is more common in women who have multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, or a spinal cord injury than in women who do not have such conditions.
• Genetic factors. A weakness in the supportive tissue of the pelvis can be passed through families. If your mother or sister has had pelvic organ prolapse, you may be more likely to get it too.

Last updated:	October 20, 2008
Author:	Sandy Jocoy, RN
Reviewed By:	Sarah Marshall, MD - Family Medicine, R. Hugh Gorwill, MD - Obstetrics and Gynecology
Editors:	Kathleen M. Ariss, MS, Pat Truman, MATC