In August 2015, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved flibanserin as a treatment for hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) in premenopausal women, despite concern about suboptimal ...risk-benefit trade-offs.
To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials assessing efficacy and safety of flibanserin for the treatment of HSDD in women.
Medical databases (among others, Embase, Medline, Psycinfo) and trial registries were searched from inception to June 17, 2015. Reference lists of retrieved studies were searched for additional publications.
Randomized clinical trials assessing treatment effects of flibanserin in premenopausal and postmenopausal women were eligible. No age, language, or date restrictions were applied. Abstract and full-text selection was done by 2 independent reviewers.
Data were extracted by one reviewer and checked by a second reviewer. Results were pooled using 2 approaches depending on the blinding risk of bias.
Primary efficacy outcomes included number of satisfying sexual events (SSEs), eDiary sexual desire, and Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) desire. Safety outcomes included, among others, 4 common adverse events (AEs): dizziness, somnolence, nausea, and fatigue.
Five published and 3 unpublished studies including 5914 women were included. Pooled mean differences for SSE change from baseline were 0.49 (95% CI, 0.32-0.67) between 100-mg flibanserin and placebo, 1.63 (95% CI, 0.45-2.82) for eDiary desire, and 0.27 (95% CI, 0.17-0.38) for FSFI desire. The risk ratio for study discontinuation due to AEs was 2.19 (95% CI, 1.50-3.20). The risk ratio for dizziness was 4.00 (95% CI, 2.56-6.27) in flibanserin vs placebo, 3.97 (95% CI, 3.01-5.24) for somnolence, 2.35 (95% CI, 1.85-2.98) for nausea, and 1.64 (95% CI, 1.27-2.13) for fatigue. Women's mean global impression of improvement scores indicated minimal improvement to no change.
Treatment with flibanserin, on average, resulted in one-half additional SSE per month while statistically and clinically significantly increasing the risk of dizziness, somnolence, nausea, and fatigue. Overall, the quality of the evidence was graded as very low. Before flibanserin can be recommended in guidelines and clinical practice, future studies should include women from diverse populations, particularly women with comorbidities, medication use, and surgical menopause.
Purpose
Young adult cancer patients and survivors have age-specific care needs, but care needs related to sexual health are poorly understood. A systematic literature review was conducted to examine ...sexual health-related care needs among patients/survivors diagnosed with cancer during young adulthood (age: 18–39 years). The prevalence and types needs were assessed along with associated patient factors.
Methods
Four major databases were screened to identify relevant studies, which were also assessed for risk of bias; all following PRISMA guidelines.
Results
Identified studies (
N
= 35) often assessed sexual health-related care needs by whether participants experienced a generic need for support from providers. The prevalence of such needs ranged between 8 and 61.7% and was higher in female survivors and those with more health impairments. The type of diagnosis could also play a role in these varying prevalence rates, but was not systematically tested in included studies. Types of sexual health-related care needs were clustered into practical/emotional support needs (e.g., coping with physical side effects), information needs (e.g., more details), and communication needs (e.g., providers should initiate conversations, validate concerns, be empathetic/open). Needs should be addressed in-person and/or online.
Conclusions
The extent of needs related to sexual health varies among young adult patients and survivors, but types of needs center around improving provision of support and information by providers.
Implications for Cancer Survivors
Sexual health should routinely be addressed alongside other potential effects of cancer treatment to allow for constructive conversations between patients and providers. Referrals to (online) resources or specialists should be tailored to individual preferences.
Objective: Various sources of evidence suggest that men and women differ in their experience of sexual pleasure. Such gender differences have been attributed to men's higher innate sex drive, ...supported by evolutionary psychology perspectives and gender differences in reproductive strategies.
Method: This paper presents biopsychosocial evidence for gender similarities in the capacity to experience pleasure, and for substantial gender differences in opportunities for sexual pleasure.
Results: We conclude that sexual activity, in most cultures, is less pleasurable and associated with greater cost for heterosexual women than for heterosexual men, even though they do not differ in the capacity for sexual pleasure.
Conclusion: Since gender differences in experienced sexual pleasure are not a biological given, a more critical discourse of sexual pleasure might create awareness of current inequalities, help lift restrictions for women's opportunities for pleasure, and could reduce gender differences in the cost of sex. That would truly serve sexual justice around the globe.
Purpose
This study aimed to establish the functional impact of displacement of urogenital organs after abdominoperineal resection (APR) using validated questionnaires.
Methods
Patients who underwent ...APR for primary or recurrent rectal cancer (2001–2018) with evaluable pre- and postoperative radiological imaging and completed urinary (UDI-6, IIQ-7) and sexual questionnaires (male, IIEF; female, FSFI, FSDS-R) were included from 16 centers. Absolute displacement of the internal urethral orifice, posterior bladder wall, distal end of the prostatic urethra, and cervix were correlated to urogenital function by calculating Spearman’s Rho (
ρ
). Median function scores were compared between minimal or substantial displacement using median split.
Results
There were 89 male and 36 female patients included, of whom 45 and 19 were sexually active after surgery. Absolute displacement of the internal urethral orifice and posterior bladder wall was not correlated with UDI-6 in men (
ρ
= 0.119 and
ρ
= 0.022) nor in women (
ρ
= − 0.098 and
ρ
= − 0.154). In men with minimal and substantial displacement of the internal urethral orifice, median UDI-6 scores were 10 (IQR 0–22) and 17 (IQR 5–21), respectively, with corresponding scores of 25 (IQR 10–46) and 21 (IQR 16–36) in women. Displacement of the cervix and FSDS-R were correlated (
ρ
= 0.433) in sexually active patients.
Conclusion
This first analysis on functional impact of urogenital organ displacement after APR suggests that more displacement of the cervix might be associated with worse sexual function, while the data does not indicate any potential functional impact of bladder displacement. Studies are needed to further explore this underexposed topic.
Purpose
The aim of this pretest–posttest study was to investigate the reach and effects of My Changed Body (MyCB), an expressive writing activity based on self-compassion, among head and neck cancer ...(HNC) survivors.
Methods
This pilot study had a pretest–posttest design. HNC survivors received an invitation to complete a baseline survey on body image-related distress. At the end of the survey, HNC survivors were asked if they were interested in the intervention study. This entailed the writing activity and a survey 1 week and 1 month post-intervention. The reach was calculated by dividing the number of participants in the intervention study, by the number of (1) eligible HNC survivors and (2) those who filled in the baseline survey. Linear mixed models were used to analyze the effect on body image-related distress. Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate factors associated with the reach and reduced body image-related distress. MyCB was evaluated using study-specific questions.
Results
The reach of MyCB was 15–33% (depending on reference group) and was associated with lower education level, more social eating problems, and fewer wound healing problems. Among the 87 participants, 9 (10%) showed a clinically relevant improvement in body image-related distress. No significant effect on body image-related distress was found. Self-compassion improved significantly during follow-up until 1 month post-intervention (p=0.003). Users rated satisfaction with MyCB as 7.2/10.
Conclusion
MyCB does not significantly improve body image-related distress, but is likely to increase self-compassion, which sustains for at least 1 month.
The differential role of psychological traits in the etiology and maintenance of female orgasm difficulties is yet to be consistently established.
To investigate the contribution of different ...psychological trait features (personality, sexual inhibition and excitation, and sexual beliefs) to predict female orgasm and to assess the degree to which these dispositional factors moderate the association between sexual activity and orgasm occurrence in a large community sample of Portuguese women.
1,002 women (18–72 years, mean age = 26.27, SD = 8.74) completed questionnaires assessing personality traits (NEO-Five Factor Inventory), sexual inhibition and sexual excitation (Sexual Inhibition/Sexual Excitation Scales–Short Form SIS/SES), sexual beliefs (Sexual Dysfunctional Beliefs Questionnaire), sexual behavior (frequency of sexual activities and frequency of orgasm occurrence), and social desirability (Socially Desirable Response Set). Hierarchical multiple regression and moderation analyses were conducted while controlling for the effect of covariates such as social desirability, sociodemographic and medical characteristics, and relationship factors.
The main outcome measurement was orgasm frequency as predicted and moderated by personality, SIS/SES dimensions, and sexual beliefs.
Results of the hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated a significant predictive role for sexual inhibition (associated with fear of performance failure SIS1 and related to the threat of performance consequences) and body image beliefs in female orgasm occurrence. The significant predictive effect of extraversion and of sexual excitation on orgasm frequency ceased to be significant with the insertion of all trait predictors in the final model. Furthermore, SIS1 significantly moderated the relation between sexual activity and orgasm occurrence.
Attention should be given to individual factors impairing orgasmic response in women, particularly sexual inhibition processes. The development of clinical strategies to address and regulate them is recommended.
Although this study investigated a large community sample, this sample was composed of heterosexual, relatively young women and thus generalization of the present results demands some caution. Social desirability was controlled for in the analyses and questionnaires were not collected face to face, which constitutes a strength of this study because social desirability is lower in self-administered online questionnaires compared with paper-and-pencil questionnaires, particularly for more sensitive sexual issues.
SIS1 was found to be a vulnerability factor for female orgasmic difficulties. Future research should test these findings with different samples, particularly clinical samples of women with orgasmic problems, preferably with the use of longitudinal designs.
Tavares IM, Laan ETM, Nobre PJ. Sexual Inhibition is a Vulnerability Factor for Orgasm Problems in Women. J Sex Med 2018;15:361–372.
Introduction
Multidisciplinary management of women‐specific bleeding is important to preserve quality of life, healthy reproduction and social participation of women and girls with bleeding disorders ...(WBD).
Aim
To support appropriate multidisciplinary care for WBD in haemophilia treatment centres.
Methods
Two case examples are presented and management issues discussed from different health care perspectives, including the nurse, patient, psychologist, gynaecologist, geneticist, psychosexual therapist and haematologist.
Results
Woman with bleeding disorders may experience heavy menstruation from menarche onwards. This has a physical and psychosocial impact requiring a multidisciplinary approach. If a woman with an inherited bleeding disorder desires to become pregnant, preconception counselling is essential, to discuss genetic diagnosis, state of the art treatment options for the bleeding disorder in question and possible choices to prevent having an affected child, as well as maternal bleeding risks during conception, delivery and the post‐partum period.
Conclusion
Adequate management and good education of WBD requires a patient‐centred multidisciplinary approach with experienced specialists in a haemophilia treatment centre.
The assessment of sexual arousal in men and women informs theoretical studies of human sexuality and provides a method to assess and evaluate the treatment of sexual dysfunctions and paraphilias. ...Understanding measures of arousal is, therefore, paramount to further theoretical and practical advances in the study of human sexuality. In this meta-analysis, we review research to quantify the extent of agreement between self-reported and genital measures of sexual arousal, to determine if there is a gender difference in this agreement, and to identify theoretical and methodological moderators of subjective-genital agreement. We identified 132 peer- or academically-reviewed laboratory studies published between 1969 and 2007 reporting a correlation between self-reported and genital measures of sexual arousal, with total sample sizes of 2,505 women and 1,918 men. There was a statistically significant gender difference in the agreement between self-reported and genital measures, with men (
r
= .66) showing a greater degree of agreement than women (
r
= .26). Two methodological moderators of the gender difference in subjective-genital agreement were identified: stimulus variability and timing of the assessment of self-reported sexual arousal. The results have implications for assessment of sexual arousal, the nature of gender differences in sexual arousal, and models of sexual response.
Traumatic sexual experiences can negatively affect sexual functioning and increase pelvic floor activity in women, especially when post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is developed. However, little ...is known about the effect of other types of interpersonal and non-interpersonal, traumatic experiences on sexual function and pelvic floor overactivity.
The aim of this study was to examine the effects of lifetime traumatic experiences and subsequent PTSD symptoms on sexual function and pelvic floor activity and to investigate whether the effects differ for interpersonal and non-interpersonal trauma.
Women (N=82) with obesity and a history of infertility, participating in a follow-up study of an RCT investigating a lifestyle intervention programme, completed questionnaires on lifetime exposure to traumatic events (LEC-5), PTSD symptoms (PC-PTSD-5), sexual function (MFSQ) and pelvic floor activity (AOPFS-SV).
A large majority of women (85%) reported exposure to at least one traumatic event during their lifetime. Sexual function and pelvic floor activity did not differ between women who experienced non-interpersonal or interpersonal (including sexual) trauma and those who did not experience traumatic events during their lifetime. Women who had developed PTSD symptoms, however, did have higher pelvic floor activity, but sexual function was not affected. Women with a positive screen for PTSD had the highest pelvic floor activity score, and individual PTSD symptoms nightmares and hypervigilance were associated with significantly higher pelvic floor activity scores.
Trauma exposure is associated with pelvic floor overactivity in women with a positive screen for PTSD, such that pelvic floor overactivity is more severe with greater PTSD severity. These findings suggest that the development of PTSD after interpersonal trauma is pivotal in this association. Sexual function was unrelated to trauma exposure and pelvic floor function, perhaps related to the fact that the interpersonal trauma events reported in this study were mainly non-sexual.
We present the first systematic review and meta-analysis of sexual function in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) compared with women without PCOS. Data on this topic are limited and often ...contradicting. Sexual function is influenced by endocrine, mental and social factors, which are often compromised in women with PCOS. The main outcome measures were validated sexual function questionnaires and visual analogue scales (VAS). We identified and assessed 1925 original articles; 18 articles were included. Significant small effect sizes were found on sexual function subscales (total score: P = 0.006; arousal: P = 0.019; lubrication: P = 0.023; satisfaction: P = 0.015; orgasm: P = 0.028), indicating impaired sexual function in women with PCOS. Large effect sizes for the effect of body hair on sex were shown on VAS (P = 0.006); social effect of appearance (P = 0.007); sexual attractiveness (P < 0.001). Satisfaction with sex life was impaired (P < 0.001), but sexual satisfaction was rated equally important in women with PCOS and controls. We conclude that a satisfying sex life is important for women with PCOS; however, sexual function and feelings of sexual attractiveness are impaired. The findings imply that sexual function, sexual satisfaction and psychosocial functioning need to be part of every clinical assessment of women with PCOS.
PDF
