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Bariatric surgery improved sexual health in women
Women who underwent bariatric surgery demonstrated improved overall sexual function, reproductive hormones and psychosocial status, according to phase 2 data from the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery study.
The women (n=106) underwent Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery (n=85) or laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (n=21), and lost a significant amount of mean initial body weight at postoperative year 1 (32.7%; 95% CI, 30.7-34.7) and at postoperative year 2 (33.5%; 95% CI, 31.5-35.6), according to data.
“For many people, sex is an important part of quality of life. The massive weight losses typically seen following bariatric surgery are associated with significant improvements in quality of life,” David Sarwer, PhD, professor of psychology in psychiatry and surgery in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, said in a press release. “This is one of the first studies to show that women also experience improvements in their sexual functioning and satisfaction, as well as significant improvements in their reproductive hormones.”
Besides weight loss, researchers measured sexual function using the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), which measured arousal, lubrication, desires, orgasm, satisfaction and pain on a 26-point scale. Total FSFI score for the group improved from 20.3 at baseline to 23.5 at year 1 (P=.04) and 24.8 at year 2 (P=.002).
“Women also experienced statistically significant improvements in total testosterone, estradiol, [follicle-stimulating hormone], luteinizing hormone, and sex hormone-binding globulin levels 1 year after bariatric surgery,” Sarwer and colleagues wrote. “Improvements in [dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate] levels did not reach statistically significance from baseline to postoperative year 1 but did from baseline to postoperative year 2.”
Limitations include lack of diversity in race, loss to follow-up, and no evidence of menopausal status. However, these results suggest sexual health should be added to the list of benefits associated with bariatric surgery, researchers wrote. Future studies are warranted.
Disclosure: Sarwer reports consultancy for Allergan, BariMD, BAROnova, EnteroMedics and Ethicon Endo-Surgery. At the time of the study, he was on the board of directors of the Surgical Review Corporation. See the study for a full list of all other researchers’ disclosures.