Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and pelvic floor signs and symptoms: a scoping review of the literature.
Valentina Di Tommaso, Marta Rossi, Silvia Gianola and 4 others
PMID 39896896WHAT IT FOUND
Scoping 104 studies, researchers found high prevalence of pelvic floor symptoms in COVID-19 patients.
Diarrhea was the most common indirect symptom, while lower urinary tract symptoms were the most frequent direct issue. These findings suggest clinicians should ask about COVID history during assessments.
Key findings
01The review included 104 articles, with no randomized controlled trials and 0 studies focused on interventions.
02Indirect symptoms were more common than direct symptoms, with diarrhea being the most reported symptom in the anorectal bowel area.
03Direct symptoms were primarily reported in the urogenital area, with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) being the most frequent issue.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The review did not assess the methodological quality of the included studies, so the strength of the evidence for each symptom is unclear. No randomized controlled trials or intervention studies were included, meaning the review maps symptoms but cannot support treatment efficacy claims. Prevalence percentages for specific symptoms were not extracted for all studies, limiting the ability to quantify risk precisely. The reduction in outpatient services during the pandemic may have led to underreporting of pelvic floor dysfunction, suggesting current estimates might be underestimates. Only English-language articles were included, despite the search covering other languages, potentially missing relevant evidence.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest. This research received no external funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the high number of reported symptoms as evidence that COVID-19 causes pelvic floor dysfunction in a deterministic way. The review maps associations and prevalence in existing literature but cannot establish causality due to the lack of high-quality primary research and potential confounding factors.