Pelvic girdle pain in pregnancy: the impact of parity.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to estimate the association of parity with pelvic girdle syndrome (PGS; pain in anterior and bilateral posterior pelvis).

STUDY

DESIGN

We included 75,939 pregnant women in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study. Data were obtained by self-administered questionnaires.

RESULTS

By pregnancy week 30, 15% of the women had developed PGS. Among first-time mothers, 11% of the women reported PGS, compared with 18% of the women with 1 previous delivery and 21% of women with 2 previous deliveries. The odds ratios for PGS of having had 1 or 2 previous deliveries were 1.9 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.9-2.0) and 2.4 (95% CI, 2.3-2.6), respectively, after adjustment for other study factors. For PGS with severe pain, the corresponding odds ratios were 2.6 (95% CI, 2.3-2.9) and 3.8 (95% CI, 3.3-4.3).

CONCLUSION

The risk of the development of PGS increased with number of previous deliveries, which suggests that parity-related factors play a causal role.