Patient’s experience with Arabin cervical pessary during pregnancy: a
questionnaire survey
Abstract
Objective To investigate women’s experience with the cervical pessary
for prevention of preterm birth. Design: Retrospecitve questionnaire
study. Setting: Tertiary care hospital in Italy. Population: 166
pregnant women treated with Arabin cervical pessary within one center.
Methods: A questionnaire was administered to all women after delivery.
Main outcome measures: Data about patient’s experience before the
insertion (adequacy of the information received), during treatment
(follow-up, impact on daily life, perceived discomfort, side effects)
and at the time of removal (pain, patient’s expectation met regarding
the treatment) were analysed. Results: Information received before the
insertion of Arabin pessary was considered adequate in 163/166 (98.2%).
An increase of vaginal discharge was experienced by 70/166 (42.2%)
women. Discomfort or other side effects were reported in 13.8% and
16.3% of cases, respectively. Overall, 77% of women reported an
improved quality of life and 94% considered the follow-up during
pregnancy adequate. Removal was moderately painful for 58/166 (35%) of
women. Patient’s expectations regarding the treatment were exceeded in
the majority of cases (75.3%). In a final step, we compared our results
to previous studies suggesting that clinical experience of the health
care specialists in charge may explain why the discrepancy of results.
Conclusion: Although some trials report high rates of non-compliant
patients, this could not be confirmed by our study. In contrast, most
women reported a positive experience and were motivated to continue the
treatment when they were continuously followed by experienced
clinicians.