Prevalence of sexual dysfunction in men with multiple sclerosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Symptoms in multiple sclerosis (MS) can lead to different types and ranges of sexual dysfunction in MS patients. Studies in different parts of the world have reported a high range of sexual dysfunction in men with MS. This study aimed to estimate pooled prevalence of sexual dysfunction in men with MS.

The authors searched Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Magiran, SID, and Iran Medical Papers Database using the keywords "multiple sclerosis", "sexual dysfunctions", "men", "prevalence", and their synonyms systematically. Meta-analysis was performed using the random effects model with inverse variance-weighted method to estimate the overall prevalence of sexual dysfunction in men with MS. The protocol for this meta-analysis is available in PROSPERO (ID CRD42020199005).

A total of 351 documents were identified, and 20 articles published from 1996 to 2019 were analyzed. The articles used sample sizes from 9 to 101 individuals. However, two studies conducted online used 388 and 1568 samples. Prevalence of sexual dysfunction in all studies was reported from 31 to 92%, and the pooled prevalence of sexual dysfunction in men with MS in all studies was 62.9% with a 95% confidence interval 53 to 72.7% (heterogeneity: I² = 96.3%, Q-statistic = 12.48, P value < 0.001). According to the results of Egger's test, there was publication bias in the current study (β = 4.55, Se = 1.38, P value = 0.004).

Sexual dysfunction is highly prevalent in men with MS. Diagnosing sexual dysfunction in MS patients in clinics by specialists have to be considered a necessity.