Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34559932›Full record

ArticleBJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology2022

Pessary or surgery for a symptomatic pelvic organ prolapse: the PEOPLE study, a multicentre prospective cohort study.

L R van der Vaart, A Vollebregt, A L Milani, A L Lagro-Janssen, R G Duijnhoven, J-Pwr Roovers, C H Van der Vaart

Open access · hybridAbstract readMulticenter Study
In one paragraph

Article in BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
23citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
5.1field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 42 citations in OpenAlex.

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  12. Chapter 4.5: New Proposed Treatments for Pelvic Organ Prolapse.International urogynecology journal · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.

L R van der VaartDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Amsterdam Reproduction & Development Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1195-0047
A VollebregtDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Spaarne Gasthuis, Hoofddorp, The Netherlands.
A L MilaniDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Reinier de Graaf Hospital, Delft, The Netherlands.
A L Lagro-JanssenDepartment of General Practice/Women's studies Medicine, University Medical Centre Radboud, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
R G DuijnhovenDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Amsterdam Reproduction & Development Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4784-4396
J-Pwr RooversDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Amsterdam Reproduction & Development Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
C H Van der VaartDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, UMCU, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Amsterdam University Medical Centers · NLBergman Clinics · NLRadboud University Nijmegen · NLReinier de Graaf Hospital · NLSpaarne Ziekenhuis · NLUtrecht University · NL

Funding

ZonMw 837002525
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo compare the 24-month efficacy of pessary or surgery as the primary treatment for symptomatic pelvic organ prolapse (POP).

designMulticentre prospective comparative cohort study.

settingTwenty-two Dutch hospitals. POPULATION: Women referred with symptomatic POP of stage ≥2 and moderate-to-severe POP symptoms.

methodsThe primary outcome was subjective improvement at the 24-month follow-up according to the Patient Global Impression of Improvement (PGI-I) scale. Secondary outcomes included improvement in prolapse-related symptoms measured with the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory (PFDI-20), improvement in subjective severeness of symptoms according to the Patient Global Impression of Severity (PGI-S) scale and crossover between therapies. The primary safety outcome was the occurrence of adverse events.

main outcome measurePGI-I at 24 months.

resultsWe included 539 women, with 335 women (62.2%) in the pessary arm and 204 women (37.8%) in the surgery arm. After 24 months, subjective improvement was reported by 134 women (83.8%) in the surgery group compared with 180 women (74.4%) in the pessary group (risk difference 9.4%, 95% CI 1.4-17.3%, P < 0.01). Seventy-nine women (23.6%) switched from pessary to surgery and 22 women (10.8%) in the surgery group underwent additional treatment. Both groups showed a significant reduction in bothersome POP symptoms (P ≤ 0.01) and a reduction in the perceived severity of symptoms (P ≤ 0.001) compared with the baseline.

conclusionsSignificantly more women in the surgery group reported a subjective improvement after 24 months. Both therapies, however, showed a clinically significant improvement of prolapse symptoms. TWEETABLE ABSTRACT: Pessary treatment and vaginal surgery are both efficacious in reducing the presence and severity of prolapse symptoms, although the chance of significant improvement is higher following surgery.

Indexed as

Pelvic Organ ProlapsePessariesCohort StudiesFemaleHumansProspective StudiesQuality of LifeSurveys and QuestionnairesTreatment OutcomeGlobal improvementpelvic organ prolapsepessarysurgery

Identifiers

PMID34559932
PMCPMC9298049
OpenAlexW3199744585

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.