Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is a complex condition of heterogeneous etiology. We hypothesize, in our single-center retrospective cohort of comprehensive electronic patient intake forms, that patients with pelvic pain will show a strong prevalence of sexual, urinary, gastrointestinal, psychological, and neurological symptomatology.

259 patients completed the electronic intake for our subspecialized adult Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery (URPS) clinic. Of the 259 patients 114 reported “yes” to pelvic pain, and 138 reported “no”, the remaining 7 patients did not answer the survey. 38 (14.7%) were male, 215 (83%) female, and 6 (2.3%) identified as transgender. Statistical analysis included unpaired t-tests. Validated measures were: POPDI-6, autonomic symptom score, PHQ4 (anxiety and depression), UDI-6 (urinary symptoms), neuro-urological symptoms, PISQIR (sexual health and function), CRAD-8 (lower urinary tract symptoms, GUPI pain subscales/total and quality of life scores (genitourinary pain), AUASS (urinary symptoms) and SHIM (sexual health inventory).

The results are attached as a table below.

Patients with pelvic pain reported significantly higher POPDI-6 scores (mean 39.4 ± 21.5 vs. 23.1 ± 18.3, respectively, t value -5.3, p value <0.001), autonomic symptoms (mean 6.7 ± 6.2 vs. 3.4 ± 3.5, respectively, t value = -4.1, p value < 0.001), PHQ-4 scores (mean 3.5 ± 3.3 vs. 1.8 ± 2.8, respectively, t value = -4.4, p value <0.001) compared to those without pelvic pain, higher urinary UDI-6 scores (mean 50.4 ± 24.9 vs. 40.1 ± 23.4, respectively, p value = 0.009, t value = -2.7), significantly more neuro-urological symptoms (mean 3.5 ± 2.7 vs. 1.6 ± 2.2, respectively, p value < 0.001, t value = -6.1) PISQR scores (mean 3.2 ± 0.7 vs. 3.6 ± 0.6, respectively, t value = -2.3, p value = 0.03), significantly higher CRAD-8 scores (mean 27.4 ± 20.7 vs. 21.0 ± 20.0, respectively, t value = -2.2, p value = 0.03), GUPI pain subscale scores (mean 12.8 ± 4.9 vs. 0.8, ± 1.1, respectively, t value = -24.5, p value <0.001) compared to those without pelvic pain, higher GUPI quality of life scores (mean 8.9 ± 2.9 vs. 3.9 ± 1.7, t value = -16.3, p value <0.001 and higher GUPI total scores (mean 4.7 ± 1.3 vs. 4.0 ± 1.6, respectively, t value = – 3.9, p value <0.001). Pelvic pain was not associated with AUASS and SHIM. (Table 1)

Our findings suggest a significant association between pelvic pain and sexual, urinary, bowel, pelvic, psychological, neurological and autonomic symptoms. A multidisciplinary approach is recommended when managing CPP in order to achieve optimal quality of life.