Rheumatoid Arthritis and Risk of Sexual Dysfunction: A Systematic Review and Metaanalysis

It has been reported that there is an association between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and increased susceptibility to sexual dysfunction (SD). This systematic review and metaanalysis aimed to investigate whether RA was a risk factor for SD.

MEDLINE (PubMed), EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were systematically searched for all studies assessing sexual function in patients with RA. The association between RA and risk of SD was summarized using relative risk (RR) with 95% CI.

Overall, 44,745 participants (mean age 43.2 yrs) were included from 7 studies (4 cross-sectional and 3 case-control studies). Of these, 6642 were patients with RA, with the mean disease duration from 5.7 years to 12.17 years. The methodological qualities of the included studies were judged as moderate to high. Synthesis of results demonstrated that RA was significantly associated with an increased risk of SD in females (RR 1.73, 95% CI 1.36-2.22, p < 0.001; heterogeneity: I² 60.3%, p = 0.028) as well as in males (RR 1.99, 95% CI 1.64-2.43, p < 0.001). The outcomes related to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach showed that the absolute effect of RA on SD was 10 more per 1000 (6-15 more); the overall quality of evidence was rated as low.

Evidence from included studies indicates that patients with RA have a significantly increased risk of SD, which suggests that both patients and clinicians should be aware of the potential role of RA in the development of SD.