One hundred and eighty four women who had corrective surgery for stress incontinence, genital prolapse or both were compared with two hundred and ninety women who had no surgery for these conditions. Patients and controls did not differ in terms of age, height, weight or body mass index. Younger age at first delivery (20.1+/-4.1 vs 22.8+/-4.9, p<0.000) and a smoking history (33.2% vs 23%, p<0.015) were found as risk factors for the study group. Women who underwent surgery had greater gravidity (4.85+/-2.9 vs 3.87+/-2.5, p<0.001), greater parity (3.03+/-1.9 vs 2.19+/-1.3, p<0.000), were less often nulliparous (2.2% vs 7.9%, p<0.008), less likely to have had a cesarean delivery (1.1% vs 9%, p<0.001) and more likely to have had a vaginal delivery (97.3% vs 85.9%, p<0.000) than the control group. The study group have had larger neonates on average (3800+/-416 vs 3373+/-637 gm's, p<0.000) and had greater use of forceps or vacuum extractor for at least one delivery (17.9% vs 7.6%, p<0.001). Highly significant relationship was found between the risk of having corrective surgery and the number of children born vaginally. Women who had 4 or more vaginal deliveries had 11.7 times more risk of urinary incontinence or genital prolapse.