Sexual function during the postpartum period

Abstract

Objective: To study the characteristics of sexual function during the postpartum period

Study design: Cross-sectional descriptive study.

Material and method: From May 2006 to July 2006. Eighty women, who attended the family planning clinic at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, were enrolled in the present study. All subjects were interviewed by the investigators with a questionnaire about general characteristic and Female Sexual Function Index questionnaire (FSFI) to determine their sexual function.

Results: Twenty-eight (35%) women had sexual intercourse within the six weeks postpartum period before they attended the family planning clinic. In this group, 18 women (35%) had vaginal deliveries and 10 women (34.5%) had cesarean deliveries. No statistically significant difference was demonstrated in terms of route of delivery (chi2 = 0.005, p-value = 0.57). Women without episiotomy resumed sexual intercourse more than women with episiotomy (66.7% and 25.6%, chi2 = 6.76, p-value = 0.015). There was no association between route of delivery and sexual function including sexual desire, sexual arousal, sexual lubrication, sexual orgasm, satisfaction, pain, and FSFI score.

Conclusion: Resumption of sexual intercourse in the postpartum period was quite high. However, route of delivery was not associated with resumption of sexual intercourse and female sexual function in postpartum period. More women without episiotomy had resumption of sexual intercourse than the others. Sexual demand of the partner is the influencing factor to resumption of sexual intercourse during the post partum period. Counseling about sexuality and contraception after birth should be a regular practice in the hospital.