Endometriosis and Sex
Jan 21, 2022
This article explores how adenomyosis and deep infiltrating endometriosis affects couples’ sex lives and relationships.
Key Points
Highlights:
- Adenomyosis and deep infiltrating endometriosis worsen women's sexual quality of life.
Importance:
- Not only pain treatment, but also the quality of life including sexual life should be considered when treating patients with adenomyosis or deep infiltrating endometriosis.
What's done here:
- The aim is to assess and compare the quality of sexual life and couple relationships in women with adenomyosis / deep endometriosis, and a group with neither disease.
- 58 women had adenomyosis, 55 had deep infiltrating endometriosis, 60 had neither disease (control group) were included in the study.
- Researchers analyzed the sexual quality of life and dyadic adjustment in this prospective, single-center, comparative study.
Key results:
- The sexual quality of life, as well as the dyadic adjustment of couples for patients with either adenomyosis or deep infiltrating endometriosis, are significantly worse.
- The most significant reasons for this poor quality of sexual life are dyspareunia and dyschezia.
Limitations:
- The sample size is relatively small, the frequency of sexual activity, the duration of the relationships, and the duration of the pain were not taken into account.
- Women who were in a postpartum period of 6 months to 2 years were not excluded.
- Researchers did not assess women’s sexual function.
Lay Summary
The sexual quality of life of women with adenomyosis or deep infiltrating endometriosis is significantly worse than that of women without the diseases, according to a new study published in the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy.
This finding suggests that adenomyosis and deep infiltrating endometriosis may have a negative impact on couples’ sexual life and relationships.
According to the authors of the study, clinicians should be aware of this problem when treating women with either disease.
“The mere fact of asking the patient about her sexual life and relationship may create a space for the patient to feel heard,” they wrote. “In addition to treating pain, clinicians may also take other measures such as referring the couple to a psychologist/physiotherapist who may accompany them in the process”.
The study led by Dr. Francisco Carmona aimed to assess the sexual quality of life and couple satisfaction in women diagnosed with adenomyosis or deep infiltrating endometriosis.
The researchers analyzed three groups of couples. In the first, there were 58 couples in which the woman had adenomyosis, in the second, there were 55 couples in which the woman had deep infiltrating endometriosis, and in the third, there were 60 couples in which the women had neither disease.
The results of the "Sexual Quality of Life-Female" questionnaire completed by all women showed that the sexual quality of life of women with either disease was significantly lower than that of women without the diseases.
The dyadic adjustment was also significantly worse in couples where the woman had adenomyosis or deep infiltrating endometriosis compared to couples in which the women had neither disease. Dyadic adjustment is a measure of an individual's perceptions of their relationship with an intimate partner.
Adenomyosis and deep infiltrating endometriosis may impair the quality of sexual life and couple relationships, the authors concluded.
