[Pelvic floor disorders: What do adolescents and young women know? A literature review]

Abstract

Aim: To assess the knowledge of adolescent girls and young women on pelvic-perineal disorders (PPD).

Method: We searched on PubMed, Cochrane Library, Kinédoc and Semantic Scholar databases using the MeSH keywords: "knowledge" "awareness" "surveys" "young women" "pelvic floor" "adolescent" "teenager" "athletic injury" "urinary incontinence". The articles had to have been published within the last 15 years, written in French or English, and deal with the state of knowledge of adolescents and young women concerning the perineal sphere using questionnaires.

Results: A total of 8 studies were included in the review, 5 cross-sectional studies and 3 intervention studies. The knowledge of adolescent girls and young women interviewed about the anatomy of the pelvic floor, its function, and risk factors for PPD was low. The majority of the participants wanted more information about the pelvic floor. Two studies that conducted an educational intervention showed a significant improvement in knowledge.

Conclusion: Knowledge of pelvic-perineal disorders and pelvic floor function is poor in adolescent girls and young women. To better assess them, it would be necessary to validate a questionnaire containing all the items about knowledge.

Keywords: Adolescentes; Adolescents; Connaissances; Jeunes femmes; Knowledge; Pelvic floor; Pelvic-perineal disorders; Plancher pelvien; Troubles pelvi-périnéaux; Young women.