Mobile app helps address sexual dysfunction in stem cell transplant survivors
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Key takeaways:
- Mobile app improved hematopoietic stem cell transplant survivors’ sexual dysfunction.
- Researchers observed improvements in quality of life, as well as satisfaction with and interest in sex.
A multimodal phone app proved feasible for addressing sexual dysfunction among hematopoietic stem cell transplant survivors, according to results presented at Tandem Meeting | Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Meetings of ASTCT and CIBMTR.
Data showed the app to have encouraging early results in improving sexual health outcomes, quality of life and psychological stress among such survivors, according to researchers.
“Sexual health concerns are the most prevalent problem facing our hematopoietic stem cell transplant survivors,” Areej R. El-Jawahri, MD, associate director of cancer outcomes research and education and director of the bone marrow transplant survivorship program at Massachusetts General Hospital, told Healio. “Yet sexual health concerns are rarely addressed in clinical practice. Patients and clinicians are often reluctant to discuss the topic, which further exacerbates the problem for our patients and their partners.”
Background and methodology
Researchers conducted a randomized, pilot trial comprised of patients with hematologic malignancies at least 3 months after autologous or allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant who had noted sexual dysfunction causing stress, to assess if a multimodal mobile application (SHIFT) could address sexual dysfunction.
Researchers assigned participants to either SHIFT or enhanced usual care.
Participants in the SHIFT cohort met with a HSCT clinician for an exam to address biological causes of sexual dysfunction before receiving 8 weeks of access to SHIFT, which consisted of five modules aimed at educating and empowering patients.
Those who received enhanced usual care also met with the trained HSCT clinician for an exam but did not receive access to SHIFT. Feasibility served as the study’s primary endpoint.
Results
Of 95 eligible patients, researchers enrolled 61 patients (mean age, 57.2 years; 60% men).
Among patients in the SHIFT cohort, 70% completed at least 80% of SHIFT modules, with 66.7% completing all the modules. Patients assigned to the app accessed it for a mean of 155 minutes (range, 38.1–394.9).
At 8 weeks, patients who received SHIFT access reported improved satisfaction with sex (14.6 vs. 12.3), interest in sex (6.7 vs. 5.7) and orgasm pleasure (9.7 vs. 8.2) compared with patients who received enhanced usual care.
Researchers also noted that patients receiving access to SHIFT reported better quality of life (115.6 vs. 108.3), anxiety (4.6 vs. 6.4) and depression symptoms (3.6 vs. 5.4), compared with those receiving enhanced usual care.
Next steps
Through the study, researchers determined that use of the app is a feasible and acceptable way to address concerns regarding sexual health among transplant survivors; however, they said additional studies are needed to signal more widespread use of the application.
“It also provides an opportunity for patients to address their sexual health concerns in the privacy of their own home,” El-Jawahri told Healio. “The promising signal for the efficacy of the app for improving sexual health concerns and quality of life is really encouraging. We are hoping to test this in a multisite trial to establish the use of this app as a standard of care for addressing the sexual health concerns of transplant survivors.
“We would love to see the data from the future multisite trial to get our digital app (SHIFT) approved as a digital therapeutic that can be prescribed for transplant survivors experiencing sexual health concerns as a way to scale up and disseminate this successful intervention,” she added.
For more information:
Areej R. El-Jawahri, MD, can be reached at ael-jawahri@mgb.org.
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El-Jawahri AR, et al. Abstract 52. Presented at: Tandem Meetings | Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Meetings of ASTCT and CIBMTR; Feb. 21-24, 2024; San Antonio.
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