Sexual dysfunction in patients with cancer: Results from the CLARIFY project.

Abstract

12094 Background: Survivors patients with cancer may suffer long-term consequences related to antineoplastic treatments and tumor itself, leading to deterioration of quality of life and resulting in disturbances including sexual dysfunction (SD). We aimed to identify and characterize SD in a cohort of Spanish patients. Methods: Analytical observational study in patients included in the CLARIFY H2020 project at the Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro. From October 2020 to May 2022, clinical and demographic variables were collected as well as measures of sexual function using a validated Spanish-language, gender-targeted separately questionnaire. A descriptive domain on frequency of sexual activity during the last four weeks (DFSA) and multiple domains assessing phases of sexual response (DESR), according to DSM IV and DSM V parameters including desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction with sexual performance, global sexual satisfaction, anticipatory anxiety and sexual initiative were evaluated. Descriptive, trend associations and logistic regression analyses were performed. Results: 383 patients were included, cancer type distribution was breast cancer 68.14% (261), lung cancer 26.37% (101) and lymphomas 5.50% (21). The average age was 56.5 years (range 33-88). 19.58% (75) of patients were men and 80.42% (308) woman. 69% of men and 31% of women reported they were sexually active. The absolute frequency of Global sexual dissatisfaction (GSD) was 76% in women and 24% in men, according to neoplasia; GSD was 36% in patients with early breast cancer, 14% in men with lymphoma, and 9% in men with lung cancer. Women with metastatic breast cancer presented the highest tendency to have severe disorders of DESR. In multinomial logistic regression, significant associations were found in women with metastatic breast cancer and severe disorders of: arousal (p 0.000), lubrication (p 0.002) orgasm (p 0.000), as well as dissatisfaction with sexual performance (p 0.000) and global sexual dissatisfaction (p 0.000). On the other hand, in women with lung cancer, severe arousal disorder (p 0.016) and global sexual dissatisfaction (p 0.044) were observed. Table. Conclusions: In our study, cancer survivors have high prevalence of SD related with oncological treatment and clinical characteristics of malignancy, being women the most affected population. Efforts should be made to support SD during follow-up to improve the quality of life of this growing oncologic population. [Table: see text]