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RA patients reported reduced levels of sexual activity
Patients with rheumatoid arthritis, particularly women, were less sexually active than a control group without the disease, according to study results.
Researchers in France sent a survey to members of a rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patient association, with questions related to demographics, disease status, general well-being, pain, mood, fatigue and emotional and sexual relationships. A second questionnaire, which asked the same questions except for disease variables, was sent to a random sample of 600 members of the same patient group, requesting that they ask an acquaintance of similar age and gender to participate (control group). Final analysis included 1,271 patients (mean age, 63.8 years; 84% women) with RA and 70 controls (mean age, 60.4 years; 77% women) without the disease.
Global health, mood, fatigue and general well-being were lower for patients with RA compared with controls. Fatigue affected RA patients and controls with 30% and 25%, respectively, having a visual analogue scale score of 4 or less on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being worst.
Sexual activity was reported more frequently among controls (69%) compared with RA patients (63%), particularly women (71% vs. 60%), during the previous year. Patients indicated that RA was an obstacle for emotional (68%) and sexual (76%) relationships; 38% of controls indicated they faced obstacles in sexual relationships. Significant predictors for being sexually active among patients with RA were age, gender, living alone, physical function and mood. Age and general well-being were significant predictors for controls.
The difference between controls and patients who were sexually active was small in the population aged 55 years and younger, the researchers reported. For patients older than age 55 years, 10% to 20% fewer patients had sexual activities, “with the differences particularly striking for women.”
“Sexuality is indeed an issue for many patients and should somehow be taken into account in the [doctor-patient] discussions, even if to find out if there is a problem, and in that case, refer the patient,” researcher Gisela Kobelt, PhD, president of European Health Economics and president of National Association of Defense Against Rheumatoid Arthritis, told Healio.com.