Symptoms of pelvic floor disorders and physical fitness: A comparison between active and sedentary older women – a cross-sectional study.

• Sedentary older women more severe pelvic floor disorders symptoms than active older women, worse performance in gait speed correlated with urinary incontinence. • The urinary symptoms observed in sedentary older women, were correlated with poor performance in the physical tests evaluating agility (habitual gait speed and maximum gait speed). The study aimed to compare symptoms of pelvic floor disorders (PFD) and physical fitness (PF) between active and sedentary older women and to verify the correlation between PF and PFD. PFD was determined using the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory (PFDI-20), with the highest score indicating the greatest distress. PF was evaluated by measuring lower limb strength and endurance, agility, mobility, dynamic balance and physical mobility. Regarding PFD, pelvic organ prolapses (p<.001), and anorectal (p<.0 01) symptoms were more frequent among sedentary older women. The summary score of PFDI-20 was also higher among sedentary older women. Sedentary older women group, maximum (rho= -.40) and habitual gait speed (rho= -.46) were correlated negatively with urinary symptoms. The same pattern was observed for the summary score of PDFI-20 (rho= -.33; rho= -.46, respectively). Sedentary older women more severe PFD symptoms than active older women, worse performance in gait speed correlated with urinary incontinence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]