Poor Sexual Function Research Articles

Evaluation of a Short Scale to Assess Female Sexual Functioning

This article provides information on the external and concurrent validity, test-retest reliability, and sensitivity to change of a short form of the Personal Experiences Questionnaire, which was adapted from the McCoy Female Sexuality Questionnaire. We drew participants from convenience samples of women attending three different clinic settings: family planning clinics, psychiatrists, and sex therapists. We chose the psychiatry and sex therapy clinics as samples likely to show poor sexual functioning in order to assist with external validity assessment and to establish a cut-off score indicating sexual dysfunction. Satisfactory external criterion validity, concurrent validity, reliability on re-test, and validation of the composite score were demonstrated. A cut-off score of 7 or below distinguishes with 79% specificity and sensitivity those with sexual dysfunction.

Development of Japanese version of the UCLA Prostate Cancer Index: a pilot validation study.

The Japanese version (version 1.2) of the UCLA PCI was developed through a process of translation, back-translation, and refinement after interviewing patients. Reliability and validity were examined for 125 Japanese patients with localized prostate cancer. The patients simultaneously responded to the Japanese version of the RAND 36-Item Health Survey (SF-36) and five representative questions from the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF). Internal consistency reliability was very high for both urinary and sexual function scales, and lower for bowel function. The test-retest reliability of the urinary and sexual function scales and the urinary bother scales was stable, while that of the bowel function and bother scales was relatively unstable. Sexual function scores did not correlate highly with sexual bother scores. Furthermore, poor sexual function and bother had little association with the SF-36 scores. Missing data as to urinary and bowel function/bother scales were minimal (0.8%-2.4%), while those for sexual function and bother were relatively high (4.8%-11.2%). The results of this pilot study, together with the previous American study, suggest ethnic or cultural difference in how impaired sexual function is integrated into overall QOL. A future cross-cultural comparative study using the UCLA PCI and SF-36 will provide useful information about the influence of cultural or ethnic differences on health-related QOL in prostate cancer patients.

Erectile dysfunction in the community: a prevalence study.

To investigate the prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) in the South Australian community, and the influence of demographic and other risk factors. Survey by mailed questionnaire (based on the University of California, Los Angeles prostate cancer index) of a subset (men who agreed to participate) of a probability sample of the South Australian community who completed a multiuser interview survey. Men over the age of 40 in South Australia. Sexual desire, orgasm, ability to have an erection, adequacy (firmness) of erections for intercourse, frequency of erections when wanted, frequency of intercourse, nocturnal or morning erections, and history of prostate surgery; total sexual function score based on these. 612 men (86.7%) agreed to answer the sexual function survey; 427 (69.8%) returned questionnaires. ED was strongly correlated with age in all seven domains of sexual function. Erections inadequate for intercourse affected 3% of 40-49-year-olds, increasing to 64% of 70-79-year-olds. The frequency of intercourse considered normal for age by men 50-69 years was 1-6 times weekly; the disparity between this and reported frequency increased in men over 60 years, as did the difference between sexual desire and potency. A history of vigorous exercise was protective across all ages. High triglyceride levels, blood pressure medication and non-cancer surgery for prostate disease were independent predictors of poor sexual function at older ages. High cholesterol level was an independent predictor of impotence. We found similar or higher levels of ED than in comparable overseas studies. Disparity between potency and desire was greatest, and hence the age group in whom demand for treatment may be highest, in those 60 years and older. Cardiovascular risk factors were predictors of ED in these older men, suggesting that prevention may benefit sexual function. Non-cancer prostate surgery may be a greater contributor to ED than previously realised.

Comparison of psychosocial adaptation of advanced stage Hodgkin’s disease and acute leukemia survivors

The purpose of this study was to compare the long-term psychosocial adaptation of Hodgkin's disease and adult acute leukemia survivors. Two hundred seventy-three Hodgkin's disease (HD) and 206 adult acute leukemia (AL) survivors were interviewed by telephone concerning their psychosocial adjustment and problems they attributed to having been treated for cancer, using identical research procedures and a common set of instruments. The following measures were used: Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale (PAIS); Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI); current Conditioned Nausea and Vomiting triggered by treatment-related stimuli (CNVI); Indices of Employment, Insurance and Sexual Problems Attributed to Cancer; Negative Socioeconomic Impact of Cancer Index (NSI). All participants had been treated on one of nine Hodgkin's disease or 13 acute leukemia Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) clinical trials from 1966-1988, and had been off treatment for one year or more (mean years: HD = 5.9; AL = 5.6). HD survivors' risk of having a high distress score on the BSI was almost twice that found for AL survivors (odds ratio = 1.90), with 21% of HD vs. 14% of AL survivors (P < 0.05) having scores that were 1.5 standard deviations above the norm, suggestive of a possible psychiatric disorder. HD survivors reported greater fatigue (POMS Fatigue, P = 0.01; Vigor Subscales, P = 0.001), greater conditioned nausea (CNVI, P < 0.05), greater impact of cancer on their family life (PAIS Domestic Environment, P = 0.004) and poorer sexual functioning (PAIS Sexual Relationships, P = 0.0001), than AL survivors. Treatment-related issues may have placed HD survivors at a greater risk for problems in long-term adaptation than AL survivors.

Sexual functioning of female eating-disordered patients

Many theories about relating eating disorders with sexual development and experience have been proposed. The authors employed a normed psychometric instrument, the Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory (DSFI), to study empirically sexual characteristics of subtypes of eating-disordered patients. Forty-four female inpatients were divided into three subcategories; restricting anorexics (AR), bulimic anorexics (AB), and subjects exhibiting bulimia nervosa (BN). Starved anorexics were first allowed to attain their goal weight range before participating in the study. The three groups did not differ demographically. Comparing the eating-disordered group as a whole to the DSFI norms showed these patients to have quite poor sexual functioning and satisfaction. The “Sexual Functioning Index” representing the global DSFI score put these patients below the first percentile when compared to the normative sample. Nine out of the ten scales of the DSFI failed to show a significant difference between patient subgroups. Only the “fantasy” scale distinguished the AR subgroup with its paucity of sexual fantasy from the BN subgroup who were in the average range, with AB in between. These results are somewhat contrary to other studies comparing outpatient bulimics and anorexics and suggest that patients with eating disorders severe enough to warrant hospitalization represent a more homogenous group regarding their psychosexual characteristics.

Contraceptive Behaviour in Swedish Women -a Follow-Up Study

Factors related to the choice of contraceptive methods were studied in a randomly selected sample of Swedish women. The women were investigated by semi-structured interviews during their first pregnancy, 4 months post partum and in a follow-up study also including their partner 4.5 years later. The women were asked about their method of contraception before their first pregnancy, 4 months post partum and in the follow-up study. An insecure method of contraception before the first pregnancy was related to young age, early coital debut, poor sexual functioning, low educational level, a strained social situation, broken partner relationship and unplanned pregnancy. Insecure methods, however, were extremely uncommon after the first pregnancy. Also, female methods were related to good sexual adjustment 4 months post partum and in the follow-up study. Only when the woman's relationship to her partner was poor, non-female methods were used.

Transient gynecomastia in chronic renal failure during chronic intermittent hemodialysis.

Transient gynecomastia was observed in six of seven patients with chronic renal failure that was being treated with chronic intermittent hemodialysis. All seven had tenderness of the breasts, poor sexual function, and small testes, or poor spermatogenesis, or both. Neither drugs nor hepatic disease seemed to be responsible for the gynecomastia. The gynecomastia appeared similar to that seen during refeeding of malnourished patients. The cause of this disorder is as yet unknown, but may be due to secretion by the testes of an estrogen or a similar substance.