Pelvic pain and surgeries in women before interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome

Objective The objective of the study was to compare subjects with interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome (IC/PBS) with controls on prior surgeries. Study Design IC/PBS subjects were compared with matched controls on surgeries and possible surgical indications prior to their index dates. Results Adjusted for demographic variables, logistic regression showed subjects exceeded controls in surgeries longer than 12 months and less than 1 month before the index date. However, addition of possible surgical indications showed chronic pelvic pain (CPP) to have a strong association with IC/PBS, whereas associations with surgeries were reduced to nonsignificance. Conclusion Although women with IC/PBS were more likely to have experienced prior surgeries than controls, the apparent indications for surgeries, not the surgeries themselves, were stronger risk factors for IC/PBS. In particular, a prior history of CPP had a strong association with IC/PBS. Several features of study design, including extensive medical record review, suggest that prior CPP was not undiagnosed IC/PBS. Further investigation of CPP may yield insight into the pathogenesis of IC/PBS.