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. 2022 Jul;11(7):959-973.
doi: 10.21037/tau-22-190.

Inflammatory bowel disease is associated with worse sexual function: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Bingliang Chen #  1   2 , Bingyan Zhou #  3   4 , Guoda Song  1   2 , Hao Li  1 , Rui Li  1 , Zhuo Liu  1 , Chao Wei  1 , Tao Wang  1 , Shaogang Wang  1 , Delin Ma  5 , Jihong Liu  1 , Xiaoyi Yuan  1 , Xiaming Liu  1
Affiliations

Inflammatory bowel disease is associated with worse sexual function: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Bingliang Chen et al. Transl Androl Urol. 2022 Jul.

Abstract

Background: Several studies report that sexuality is often affected by inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). The aim of this meta-analysis was to investigate the association between IBD and sexual function.

Methods: A literature search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, and EMBASE databases (up to September 1, 2020). Scores of sexual functions with a standard deviation and odds ratio (OR) or relative risk (RR) with a 95% CI were used to analysis the association between IBD and sexual function.

Results: Eleven studies with 7,018 male IBD cases and 1,803 female IBD cases were included in the meta-analysis. In male individuals, the pooled results revealed that IBD was significantly associated with impaired erectile function and poor sexual satisfaction (RR for erectile function =1.50, 95% CI: 1.22 to 1.84, P<0.0001; standard mean difference for sexual satisfaction =-0.24, 95% CI: -0.33 to -0.15, P<0.0001). And among female individuals, IBD had impact on most sub-domains of sexual function, except pains.

Conclusions: IBD is associated with worse sexual function. It has significant impact on erectile function and satisfaction for male individuals and has impact on most sub-domains of sexual function for female individuals.

Keywords: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); erectile function; satisfaction in sexual; sexual function; systematic review and meta-analysis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://tau.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/tau-22-190/coif). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of studies selection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot showing subgroup analysis results of the prevalence of sexual dysfunction (A) and the total sexual function scores (B) for males. Controls represent male individuals without inflammatory Bowel diseases. SD, standard deviation; IIEF, International Index of Erectile Function; ASEX, Arizona Sexual Experience Scale.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Forest plot showing subgroup analysis results of the prevalence of ED (A), the erectile function scores (B), and the “satisfaction and quality” scores (C) for male. Controls represent male individuals without inflammatory bowel diseases. SD, standard deviation; IIEF, International Index of Erectile Function; ASEX, Arizona Sexual Experience Scale; SQoL, Sexual Quality of Life Questionnaire; ED, erectile dysfunction.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Forest plot showing subgroup analysis results of the prevalence of sexual dysfunction (A) and the total sexual function scores (B) for female. Controls represent female individuals without inflammatory bowel diseases. SD, standard deviation; FSFI, Female Sexual Function Index; ASEX, Arizona Sexual Experience Scale; BISF-W, Brief Index of Sexual Functioning in Women.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Forest plots showing subgroup analysis results of the specific domains scores for females according to different sexual function assessment scales. (A) Desire, (B) Arousal, (C) Lubrication, (D) Orgasm, (E) Satisfaction and quality. Controls represent male individuals without Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. CI, Confidence interval; SD, Standard deviation; FSFI, Female Sexual Function Index; ASEX, Arizona Sexual Experience Scale; BISF-W, Brief Index of Sexual Functioning in Women. SQoL, Sexual Quality of Life Questionnaire.
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