Incidence rate and risk factors for vaginal vault prolapse repair after hysterectomy

Our objective was to estimate the incidence and identify the risk factors for vaginal vault prolapse repair after hysterectomy. We conducted a case control study among 6,214 women who underwent hysterectomy from 1982 to 2002. Cases (n=32) were women who required vaginal vault suspension following the hysterectomy through December 2005. Controls (n=236) were women, randomly selected from the same cohort, who did not require pelvic organ prolapse surgery. The incidence of vaginal vault prolapse repair was 0.36 per 1,000 women-years. The cumulative incidence was 0.5%. Risk factors included preoperative prolapse (odds ratio (OR) 6.6; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.5-28.4) and sexual activity (OR 1.3; 95% CI 1.0-1.5). Vaginal hysterectomy was not a risk factor when preoperative prolapse was taken into account (OR 0.9; 95% CI 0.5-1.8).Vaginal vault prolapse repair after hysterectomy is an infrequent event and is due to preexisting weakness of pelvic tissues.