SIAMS survey on sexological screening during the assisted reproductive technologies in Italy

The assessment of sexual function is fundamental to the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). Nevertheless, it is still not a common clinical routine among infertility centres. The aim of this survey is to describe the main aspects of sexological screening that are considered in Italian centres of ART.

After the consensus of the Italian Society of Andrology and Sexual Medicine (SIAMS), a mailing list of reproductive medicine centres was created. Then, we sent a questionnaire concerning the essential characteristics of sexological screening. The respondents to compilers of the questionnaire sent back the information from their centres, and an analysis of absolute frequencies and percentages was performed.

First, 16 centres completed and returned the questionnaire, while 5 ignored the invitation. The main findings concerned the wide use consideration of vardenafil 10 mg (68.7%; 11/16) for the treatment of erectile dysfunction in comorbidity with reproductive problems, the diffuse administration of International Index of Erectile Function (68.2%; 11/16) and Structured Interview for the Erectile Dysfunction (50%; 8/16) as psychometric tools and lesser use of Female Sexual Function Index (31.2%; 5/16) for the evaluation of female sexuality in the infertile couple.

To conclude, we noticed a major focus on male sexuality and the eventual treatment or evaluation of sexual dysfunction compared to female sexuality. This aspect highlights an important issue for clinical practice to strongly consider and eventually reinforce. In this regard, improvement of the assessment and treatment of possible female sexual problems in reproductive medicine seems necessary.