Social demographic characteristics of women with pelvic organ prolapse at the Tamale Teaching Hospital, Ghana.

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence, social demographic characteristics and types of pelvic organ prolapse that patients present with at the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH). METHODS A descriptive study of pelvic organ prolapses at the Tamale Teaching Hospital from 1(st) January 2010 to 31(st) December 2011. RESULTS The 118 pelvic organ prolapse cases constituted (2.68%) of the 4403 gynaecological out-patient cases seen during the two year study period. The mean age and standard deviation was (45.9± 15.1) and the modal age group was 30-39 years with 32 (27.1%) of cases. There were 112 (94.9%) cases of uterine prolapse, 95 (80.5%) had cystocele, 16 (13.5%) patients had rectoceles and 3 (2.5%) had enterocele. Their main occupations were trading 66 (55.9%) and farming 44 (37.3%), seventy (62.5%) of the patients with uterine prolapse were premenopausal while (10) 14.3% of the premenopausal cases had an ongoing pregnancy. The parity ranged from zero to 13 with mean and standard deviation of (4.4±1.7). Fifty five (46.6%) were from the Tamale metropolis and only 12 (10.5%) had all their deliveries in hospital. The commonest complication was decubitus ulcer present in 20 (16.9%) patients, 16(80%) of it in patients with procedentia. CONCLUSION Pelvic organ prolapse is not a rare gynaecological condition at the Tamale Teaching Hospital. The patients are relatively young and are from various districts in the northern region. Some occupational, socio-cultural practices and reproductive characteristics may be contributory to severity of pelvic organ prolapse.