Sexual Dysfunction in Patient's Diagnosed with Cervical Cancer in Comparison to the Healthy Female Population

Aim of the study was to evaluate and compare the prevalence female sexual dysfunction (FSD) in cervical cancer (CC) survivors to a healthy female population.

This observational prospective trial was conducted at Thammasat University Hospital, Thailand, between April 2023 and February 2024. Participants were CC survival who attended an outpatient cancer clinic. Subject with age between 30 and 60 years old and engaged in sexual intercourse at least once within the last 4 weeks were recruited. The control group was women who attended outpatient gynecologic clinic for routine pelvic examination with no serious medical diseases and no malignancy. The female sexual function index (FSFI) was applied to all the participants during the survey. Other demographic data of the participants were collected.

A total of 116 cases were enrolled in the study. Participants were equally divided into the study and control groups. The mean age and BMI of participants were 49.4 years and 24.7 kg/m², respectively without statistical significance. The FSD's prevalence of the CC survival was significantly higher than control group (34.5 and 10.4 percent, respectively). CC survivors reported significantly poorer outcomes in the domains of lubrication, sexual satisfaction, and pain compared to the control group.

The prevalence rates of CC survival and control group was 34.5 and 10.4 percent, respectively. Three out of six FSFI domains namely lubrication, satisfaction, and pain showed more problematic for CC survivors compared to control group.