Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Dec 5;122(24):3973-81.
doi: 10.1182/blood-2013-05-499806. Epub 2013 Oct 24.

Longitudinal trajectory of sexual functioning after hematopoietic cell transplantation: impact of chronic graft-versus-host disease and total body irradiation

F Lennie Wong  1 , Liton Francisco, Kayo Togawa, Heeyoung Kim, Alysia Bosworth, Liezl Atencio, Cara Hanby, Marcia Grant, Fouad Kandeel, Stephen J Forman, Smita Bhatia
Affiliations

Longitudinal trajectory of sexual functioning after hematopoietic cell transplantation: impact of chronic graft-versus-host disease and total body irradiation

F Lennie Wong et al. Blood. .

Abstract

This prospective study described the trajectory of sexual well-being from before hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) to 3 years after in 131 allogeneic and 146 autologous HCT recipients using Derogatis Interview for Sexual Function and Derogatis Global Sexual Satisfaction Index. Sixty-one percent of men and 37% of women were sexually active pre-HCT; the prevalence declined to 51% (P = .01) in men and increased to 48% (P = .02) in women at 3 years post-HCT. After HCT, sexual satisfaction declined in both sexes (P < .001). All sexual function domains were worse in women compared with men (P ≤ .001). Orgasm (P = .002) and drive/relationship (P < .001) declined in men, but sexual cognition/fantasy (P = .01) and sexual behavior/experience (P = .01) improved in women. Older age negatively impacted sexual function post-HCT in both sexes (P < .01). Chronic graft-versus-host disease was associated with lower sexual cognition/fantasy (P = .003) and orgasm (P = .006) in men and sexual arousal (P = .05) and sexual satisfaction (P = .005) in women. All male sexual function domains declined after total body irradiation (P < .05). This study identifies vulnerable subpopulations that could benefit from interventional strategies to improve sexual well-being.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Percent ± SE of sexually active patients by time since HCT, in men and women.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Longitudinal trends of sexual satisfaction in men and women. Adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, income, change in BMI from pre-HCT level, and TBI.
Figure 3
Figure 3
GEE estimates of the longitudinal trends of sexual function domains and total sexual function. (A) Total sexual function. (B) Sexual behavior/experience. (C) Sexual cognition/fantasy. (D) Orgasm. (E) Sexual arousal. (F) Drive/relationship. Men: dashed lines denote estimated function; ▪, observed mean. Women: solid lines denote estimated function; ●, observed mean. Vertical lines show 95% CIs of the GEE trends. *Significant (P < .05) difference from pre-HCT level.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Thygesen KH, Schjødt I, Jarden M. The impact of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation on sexuality: a systematic review of the literature. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2012;47(5):716–724. - PubMed
    1. Yi JC, Syrjala KL. Sexuality after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Cancer J. 2009;15(1):57–64. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tierney DK. Sexuality following hematopoietic cell transplantation. Clin J Oncol Nurs. 2004;8(1):43–47. - PubMed
    1. Syrjala KL, Roth-Roemer SL, Abrams JR, et al. Prevalence and predictors of sexual dysfunction in long-term survivors of marrow transplantation. J Clin Oncol. 1998;16(9):3148–3157. - PubMed
    1. Humphreys CT, Tallman B, Altmaier EM, Barnette V. Sexual functioning in patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation: a longitudinal study. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2007;39(8):491–496. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms