Abstract
Introduction & Objectives: We aimed to determinate the prevalence of sexual
dysfunction (SD) in a cohort of patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and investigate
the correlations with course of disease, disability status, lower urinary tract
symptoms (LUTS) and lesion sites.
Materials & Methods: One hundred and twenty-one patients, 56 males and 65
females, 22 to 79 years old (mean age 46.2; SD:12.8), with clinical syndrome of
MS were consecutively and prospectively studied. Patients were divided into three
clinical groups based on course of disease: primary progressive (PP), relapsing–
remitting (RR) and secondary progressive (SP). We investigated SD by using IIEF
for male patients and PISQ-12 for female patients. Patients were evaluated for
overall disability using the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). LUTS were
investigated by using international established questionnaires: ICIQ-MLUTS for
male patients and ICIQ-FLUTS for female patients. Lesion sites were determined
by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We used SPSS 13.0 for Windows for
statistical analysis. Chi-square tests were used to evaluate the measure of
association. Spearman’s rank correlation was used to describe the dependence
between two variables. A P-value <0,05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: At least one SD was reported by 42% (51 out of 121) of patients. In
40% of patients SD occurred in the early stage of disease. SDs occurred in
male patients with a higher frequency compared to female patients (52% vs.
34%; p<0,05). Among male patients the most common symptom was erectile
dysfunction (47%), followed by hypoactive sexual desire (26%), delayed or absent
ejaculation (26%) and reduced or absent orgasms (25%). Among female patients
the most common symptom was reduced or absent orgasms (37%), followed by
hypoactive sexual desire (33%) and dyspareunia (31%). 52% of male patients and
44% of female patients referred an ‘unsatisfied’ sexual life. Only 48% of patients
reporting SD had previously spoken to a doctor about this problem. 75 patients
had RR-MS; 33 patients had SP-MS and 13 had PP-MS. We found a significant
correlation between disease course and SD, that was more frequent in SP (67%)
and PP (60%) patients than in RR (27%) patients (p < 0,05). A direct correlation
was observed between EDSS score and SD (p < 0,05). The average EDSS score
was 4,03 (SD=2,2) in patients referring SD and 2,39 (SD=1,9) in patients without
SD. We observed a direct correlation also between complaint of LUTS and SD
(p<0,05). No significant correlation was found between SD and lesion sites at MRI
(p>0,05).
Conclusions: Our data confirmed the high prevalence of SD in MS patients,
even if they are often underestimated. The prevalence is higher in males than in
females. We found a correlation between SD and course of disease, EDSS score
and LUTS.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | EUROPEAN UROLOGY SUPPLEMENTS |
Pages | 160 |
Number of pages | 1 |
Publication status | Published - 2011 |
Event | 26th annual EAU congress 2011 - Vienna Duration: 18 Mar 2011 → 22 Mar 2011 |
Conference
Conference | 26th annual EAU congress 2011 |
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City | Vienna |
Period | 18/3/11 → 22/3/11 |
Keywords
- MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS
- SEXUAL DISFUNCTION