Abstract:
Background: Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is the descent of the vaginal wall, cervix, uterus, bladder, and rectum
downward into the vaginal canal. Its prevalence is higher among women in developing countries because women
are more prone to risk factors. In Ethiopia, women with prolapse seek treatments at advanced stages of prolapse;
hence, surgical management has been widely practicing. Therefore, it was found to be very important to conduct
research that assesses factors hindering early treatments in Southern Ethiopia. This study aimed to find out factors
associated with the delay in seeking treatment of pelvic organ prolapse among patients at selected general and referral hospitals of Southern Ethiopia.
Methods: Cross-sectional study design was employed in 123 participants of seven randomly selected General and
Referral Hospitals of Southern Ethiopia from February 01 to April 30, 2020, by using a structured questionnaire. Pretrained two midwives in each center were deployed to collect data. Physicians performed diagnosis and physical
examination. Data were entered and coded using EPI INFO version 7 and exported into SPSS version 25 for analysis.
Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed. The goodness of fit was assessed by using the
Hosmer and Lemeshow goodness test.
Results: In this study, out of 123 clinically diagnosed POP cases, nearly half of them were stage III, and over one-third
were stage IV. Therefore, 84.6% (104 participants) of the respondents were delayed for the treatment of POP. The mean
length of delay for POP treatments was 36.41±3.95 months. After adjusting for covariates, lack of supports [AOR
(Adjusted Odds Ratio)=5.2 (95% CI 1.4–19.5)], low-income [AOR=5.8 (95% CI 1.1–19.66)], and fear of social stigma
[AOR=4.7 (95% CI 1.2–18.59)] were significant factors for delayed treatments.
Conclusions: Most of the POP patients were delayed for POP treatments. Factors like lack of support, low-income,
and fear of losing social value/stigma were associated with treatment delay. Screening for the POP cases, educating
(making awareness) the community about this devastating disease to facilitate early treatment and to avoid social
stigma, and raising access to treatment by making the nearby hospitals equipped with facilities to treat POP are
recommended
