Sexual function and experience among long-term survivors of childhood cancer

The objective was to compare sexual function, sexual experience and quality of partner relationship by gender in a cohort of long-term survivors of childhood cancer with a sample from the general population.

A 30-item self-reported postal questionnaire was completed by a cohort of 224 (64%) long-term survivors of childhood cancer and 283 (51%) randomly selected persons from the general population.

Male survivors more often reported periods of low sexual interest (p = 0.019), more frequently reported low sexual satisfaction (p = 0.015), less frequently reported feeling sexually attractive (p = 0.020) and reported a lower total number of sexual partners (p = 0.031) than males in the comparison group did. Males diagnosed with a central nervous system (CNS) tumour more frequently reported sexual arousal problems (p = 0.003), low sexual satisfaction (p = 0.021) and total number of sexual partners (p = 0.012) than did males with other diagnoses. There were no statistically significant differences regarding sexual function between the female survivors and the females in the comparison group.

The results indicate that cancer disease and treatment have more impact on sexual function of male survivors than on the sexual function of female survivors. Amongst the survivors, males diagnosed with CNS tumours were shown to be the most vulnerable group. Assessment of sexual function is recommended to be included in regular follow-ups after childhood cancer.