Epidemiology of Sexual Dysfunction in Patients with Spinal Cord Injury in Iran: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Abstract

Context: One of the changes that occur in a person and lead to a change in the patient’s sexual desire is chronic diseases, including spinal cord injury (SCI). Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the epidemiology of sexual dysfunction (SD) in patients with SCI in Iran by a systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: In the present systematic review and meta-analysis, using the keywords “spinal cord injury”, “sexual dysfunction”, and “Iran” a list of related articles were extracted from national and international databases. The search was conducted by two researchers in the national databases (SID, Magiran, and Irandoc) and international databases (Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus). The necessary data were collected using a specialized checklist and analyzed using CMA v.2.0 software. Results: The result showed 183 articles were extracted in the initial search, and after reviewing the articles, six articles were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis stage. The prevalence of SD in patients with SCI was equal to 45.9%, 95% (CI: 30.2 - 62.4). Conclusions: The prevalence of SD and sexual dissatisfaction in patients with SCI was reported to be high. For this reason, it is suggested to do necessary interventions to improve the sexual satisfaction of these patients.