Quantitative assessment of pelvic floor muscle extensibility in pregnant women with a perineal elasticity meter

Abstract Objective: The objective of this study was to compare measurements of pelvic floor muscle extensibility in pregnant women obtained through the Epi-no® and perineal elasticity meter (PEM) devices. Methods: This was an observational, cross-sectional study with a consecutive sample, conducted in a prenatal care outpatient clinic. The pelvic floors of 62 healthy pregnant women, with gestational ages between 35 and 40 weeks, were assessed. Perineal extensibility was measured using the Epi-no® and PEM devices. Through the linear regression method, a formula was created to calculate the Epi-no® values from the PEM values. To determine the degree of relationship between both variables, Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used. Results: In the comparison of the results for 62 pregnant women using the two perineal extensibility assessment methods, the value obtained in the Pearson correlation coefficient analysis (0.621) indicated a moderate relationship between the variables. This finding was not confir...