Abstract
Background
The diagnosis of postpartum pelvic organ prolapse (POP) relies on symptoms combined with pelvic organ prolapse-quantification (POP-Q) and lacks serological indicators. The objective of this study was to assess serum elastin, type I collagen, miRNA-30d, and miRNA-181a in the early postpartum period to identify hematologic predictors of POP.
Material and Methods
The study included 1013 42- to 60-day-postpartum women who had delivered at Quanzhou Women's and Children's Hospital from October 1, 2016, to October 31, 2017. This study was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The pregnancy and childbirth characteristics and pelvic floor function were evaluated. Forty cases with and without POP were matched, and serum elastin and type I collagen were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect miRNA-30d and miRNA-181a in 15 pairs.
Results
Of the 1013 women recruited, 699 (69.00%) were diagnosed with POP. The mean age was 29.00 years old, and the mean body mass index (BMI) was 22.6 kg/m2. In the univariate analysis, age ≥35 years (OR, 1.449; 95% CI, 0.965, 2.298), postpartum BMI ≥ 24 (OR, 4.402; 95% CI, 2.657, 6.148), neonatal weight ≥4 kg (OR, 4.832; 95% CI, 1.373, 17.290) and vaginal delivery (OR, 2.751; 95% CI, 1.855, 4.081) were risk factors for postpartum POP. There were no significant differences in the concentrations of serum elastin and type I collagen between the groups (P=0.52; P=0.26). There were significant differences in the concentrations of miRNA-30d and miRNA-181a between the groups (P=0.004; P=0.003).
Conclusion
miRNA-30d and miRNA-181a tended to be increased in women with POP and could be potential clinical predictors.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to the assistants and Quanzhou Women's and Children's Hospital for obtaining the samples. We would like to thank the participants for their patience and kindness.
Abbreviations
BMI, body mass index; ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; HOXA11, Homeobox A11; POP, pelvic organ prolapse; POP-Q, pelvic organ prolapse-quantification; RT-PCR, Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction; SUI, stress urinary incontinence.
Ethical Approval
The study was approved by our institutional review board (No: 2017-016).
Author Contributions
All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation, or in all these areas; took part in drafting, revising or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Disclosure
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest for this work.