With the increasing aging population, it is projected by the U.S. Census Bureau that by the year 2030, the population over age 65 will double to more than 70 million in the U.S. alone, and more than one billion worldwide. It is estimated that approximately one-third of women will experience at least one disorder of the pelvic floor in her lifetime.

With this in mind, Women & Infants Hospital has teamed up with practitioners across the state to create the Rhode Island Network for Pelvic Floor Disorders at Women & Infants Hospital. The Network was created to provide state-of-the-art diagnosis and therapy for women with pelvic floor disorders through comprehensive clinical care and organizational oversight.

"Improved patient outcomes are an expected result from a dedicated network," said Deborah L. Myers, MD, director of the Rhode Island Network for Pelvic Floor Disorders at Women & Infants Hospital, director of Women & Infants' Division of Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery and the Program in Women's Physical Therapy, and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. "Currently there are measures estimating outcomes and patient satisfaction in other medical areas which endorse the concept of forming centers of excellence and consolidation of specialties of practice. This is exactly what our Network endeavors to do."

Pelvic floor disorders are an issue of growing importance, from both an individual and public health point of view. Pelvic floor disorders (PFDs) include urinary incontinence (UI), fecal/anal incontinence (AI), and pelvic organ prolapse (POP). Other related symptoms and conditions which frequently accompany PFDs are sensory and emptying abnormalities of the lower urinary tract and bowel, pelvic and abdominal pain, musculoskeletal dysfunction of the pelvic muscles/ligaments, and constipation and diarrheal states.

In addition to pelvic floor disorders
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