Urogenital prolapse and atrophy at menopause: A prevalence study

For 285 subjects referred to a menopause clinic data were prospectively col lected on the time elapsed since the onset of menopause (menopausal age), s exual activity, dyspareunia, smoking, chronic cough and constipation. Prola pse and atrophy were sought on examination. FSH assay confirmed menopausal status. We found an anterior wall prolapse in 51% of the subjects, of which 6% were protruding beyond the introitus. Posterior wall prolapse was prese nt in 27% and apical prolapse in 20%; none was protruding beyond the introi tus. No trend was noted between prolapse and menopausal age. Atrophy was ev ident in 34% of the women, and this was related to menopausal age (P <0.001 ). Forty pet cent of the sexually active women admitted to dyspareunia, of which 2/3 were superficial. This correlated with advancing menopausal age ( P <0.02). In conclusion, genital prolapse was frequent in the population of postmenopausal women, predominantly cystocele, but the prevalence did not correlate with menopausal age.