Female sexual dysfunction with heart failure ‘underrecognized and undertreated’
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Key takeaways:
- Female sexual dysfunction is likely underreported among women with heart failure.
- Heart failure studies should include validated questionnaires that properly assess female sexual dysfunction.
Female sexual dysfunction among women with HF is inconsistently assessed in studies, with researchers using a variety of questionnaires that do not capture the breadth of symptoms, which may limit proper treatment, data show.
“Addressing female sexual dysfunction in everyday clinical practice is of paramount importance to ultimately improve the quality of life in women with heart failure; however, the available effective treatment modalities for female sexual dysfunction are limited,” Nikolaos Pyrgidis, MD, MSc, a urology resident in the department of urology at University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany, told Healio. “Screening for female sexual dysfunction is easy and should become an integral part of everyday clinical practice.”
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Pyrgidis and colleagues analyzed data from nine studies with 1,401 participants, including five studies conducted in Europe, three conducted in the U.S. and one conducted in Asia. The mean age of participants was 64 years. Seven studies included participants across the spectrum of ejection fraction in HF; one study included patients with HF with reduced EF and one included participants with an implanted left ventricular assist device.
Three studies used the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), two studies used the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale, one study used the Sexual Function Questionnaire-14 (SFQ-14), one study used the Sexual Adjustment Scale and two studies used other nonstandard forms of questionnaires.
According to studies, the proportion of female sexual dysfunction ranged from 12% to 91%. The pooled prevalence of female sexual dysfunction among 623 women with HF was 56% (95% CI, 29-80), though the largest study did not report the proportion of female sexual dysfunction.
“The present systematic review suggests that sexual disorders are highly prevalent in women with HF, although it remains an underrecognized and undertreated clinical entity in the majority of cases,” the researchers wrote.
Researchers noted that the highest proportion of female sexual dysfunction was reported in studies that implemented questionnaires that were validated, comprehensive and recommended by the International Society for Sexual Medicine, such as the FSFI and the SFQ-14.
“Current cardiology recommendations should recognize female sexual dysfunction as a problem that restricts quality of life,” Pyrgidis told Healio. “Establishing communication channels about sexual health between physicians and women with HF is mandatory to help alleviate their sexual difficulties. Interventional studies focusing on potential management strategies, pharmacological or not, are necessary.”
Reference:
Nikolaos Pyrgidis, MD, MSc, can be reached at nikospyrgidis@gmail.com; Twitter: @pyrgidis.
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