The influence of psychiatric comorbidity on sexual satisfaction in fibromyalgia patients

To investigate the influence of psychiatric comorbidity on sexual satisfaction in premenopausal and postmenopausal female affected by fibro-myalgia (FM).

We enrolled 100 FM females and 40 age-matched healthy females. Psychiatric diagnoses were carried out using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders-Patient Edition; sexual satisfaction was evaluated using the Index of Sexual Satisfaction (ISS), clinical assessment included the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ), tender point (TP) count and pain evaluation by means of a visual analogue scale (VAS).

The data were analysed according to the presence and absence of psychiatric comorbidity in FM patients (all FM, only FM, FM with a lifetime psychiatric disorder, FM with a current psychiatric disorder). FM patients with a current psychiatric comorbidity (n=24) showed ISS values significantly higher (41.5±17.5) with respect to patients with only FM (n=45) (27.3±17.4, p<0.05) and healthy controls (24.1±12.8, p<0.01). The FIQ values of patients with current psychiatric comorbidity were significantly higher (68.4±13.5) compared to the values of patients with only FM (55.7±17.9) (p<0.05). No differences were found between VAS pain or the number of TP of the three groups of patients.

Our results suggest that psychiatric comorbidity has more influence on the sexual satisfaction of FM patients than the presence of the rheumatic disease itself. Because the ISS gives an indication of the relationship with partners, this finding suggests that emotional aspects may play a crucial role in sexual behavior, in particular in those FM patients with current psychiatric comorbidity.