Brain Function Status may be Related to Pelvic Floor Function and Pregnancy Weight Gain in Postpartum Women with Pelvic Floor Dysfunction

Background: Postpartum women often show depression and anxiety, abnormal memory and cognitive function, and pelvic floor function problems. Brain function test is also a new research direction generated combining life science and computer science. This study aimed to observe the brain function status of postpartum women and analyze the correlation between brain function and pelvic floor function and gestational weight. Methods: A cross-sectional study of women with medical record in our hospital. A total of 88 outpatient postpartum women with pelvic floor dysfunction including 48 cases of cesarean section and 40 cases of vaginal delivery who underwent brain function tests from August 2022 to September 2023 and met the inclusion criteria were included. Basic demographic information, brain function tests, pelvic floor examination, and pregnancy-related data were extracted. The brain function status of women after vaginal delivery and cesarean section was analyzed statistically, and analysis of the relationship between pelvic floor assessment and brain function. Results: Of the 88 postpartum women, >50% showed abnormal findings in the hypoxia index, emotional resistance, sleep index, outside focus, brain fatigue, brain emptying, and reaction speed. Statistical differences in brain fatigue (p < 0.001) and brain emptying (p = 0.002) were observed between postpartum women with vaginal delivery and cesarean section. Correlation analysis results revealed that prolapse was correlated with brain emptying (p < 0.001), and weakly correlated anxiety tendency (p = 0.05), sleep index (p = 0.02), introverted brain (p = 0.05), brain fatigue (p = 0.02). Pelvic floor muscle strength was associated with emotional resistance (p = 0.03), brain inhibition (p = 0.04), and brain stability (p = 0.03) weakly. Weight gain during pregnancy was related to inner focus (p = 0.001), and weakly related to oxygen deficiency index (p = 0.04), brain stability (p = 0.03), brain coordination (p = 0.01), brain emptying (p = 0.04), and reaction speed (p = 0.01). Conclusions: This study observed that most postpartum women have abnormal brain function, including mood, sleep, fatigue, cerebral oxygen metabolism, concentration, and information processing ability, and showed that postpartum brain function problems might correlated with pelvic floor function and pregnancy weight gain.