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
Clinical Trial
. 2023 Mar 27;23(1):134.
doi: 10.1186/s12905-023-02272-9.

Sexual dysfunction worsens both the general and specific quality of life of women with irritable bowel syndrome. A cross-sectional study

Santiago Camacho  1   2   3 , Andrea Díaz  4 , Paulina Pérez  4 , Héctor Batalla  5 , Yoshua Flores  6 , Evelyn Altamirano  7 , María de Fátima Higuera-de la Tijera  8   5 , Daniel Murguía  8 , Laura Gómez-Laguna  9
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Sexual dysfunction worsens both the general and specific quality of life of women with irritable bowel syndrome. A cross-sectional study

Santiago Camacho et al. BMC Womens Health. .

Abstract

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and sexual dysfunction (SxD) lowers quality of life (QOL) separately, but the effect of their overlap in unselected populations has not been studied.

Objective: To evaluate the QOL of IBS women with and without SxD and compare it with controls.

Methods: In this cross-sectional assessment, we studied 51 IBS women (Rome IV criteria) and 54 controls. SxD was determined using the female sexual function index questionnaire. QOL was evaluated by the Short Form 36 (SF-36) and IBS-QOL questionnaires.

Results: SxD prevalence was similar between IBS women (39.22%) and controls (38.89%). Compared with other groups, IBS patients with SxD showed lower scores in all domains as well as in the physical, mental summaries of the SF-36 and almost all domains (except for body image, food avoidance, and social reaction compared with IBS patients without SxD) and the total score of IBS-QOL.

Conclusions: These findings show that SxD worsens both general and specific QOL of women with IBS. The consideration of SxD in patients with IBS will allow us to make a more effective diagnostic and therapeutic approach. Clinical trial registry in Mexico City General Hospital: DI/19/107/03/080.

Clinical trials registration: NCT04716738.

Keywords: Comorbidity; Irritable bowel syndrome; Quality of life; Sexual dysfunction.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

We declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Similar prevalence of sexual dysfunction (SxD) between irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) women and controls in the non-selected population (37.25% vs. 33.33% respectively; p = 0.6, Fischer Exact test).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
General quality of life (SF-36) in women with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and controls with and without sexual dysfunction (SxD).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Specific quality of life (IBS-QOL) in women with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and controls with and without sexual dysfunction (SxD).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Black CJ, Ford AC. Global burden of irritable bowel syndrome: trends, predictions and risk factors. Nat Reviews Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020;17:473–86. doi: 10.1038/s41575-020-0286-8. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Oka P, Parr H, Barberio B, Black CJ, Savarino EV, Ford AC. Global prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome according to Rome III or IV criteria: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020;5:908–17. doi: 10.1016/S2468-1253(20)30217-X. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sperber AD, Bangdiwala SI, Drossman DA, Ghoshal UC, Simren M, Tack J, et al. Worldwide Prevalence and Burden of Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders, results of Rome Foundation Global Study. Gastroenterology. 2021;160:99–114e3. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2020.04.014. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Shin A, Ballou S, Camilleri M, Xu H, Lembo A. Information- and Health-care seeking behaviors in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020;18:2840–2. doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2019.09.020. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Defrees DN, Bailey J. Irritable bowel syndrome: epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment. Prim Care - Clin Office Pract. 2017;44:655–71. doi: 10.1016/j.pop.2017.07.009. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

Associated data