Sexuality of Women with Rheumatoid Arthritis in a West African Hospital
2021
Background: Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes
socio-economic, psychological and sexual problems. It imposes limitations on
sexual relationships and these issues are still taboo in African society. Objective: The objective is to assess the impact of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on women’s sexuality at
the Ignace Deen National Hospital. Patients and Methods: This was an analytic case-control study of 8 months (from April 6, 2020 to
December 11, 2020). All patients followed for rheumatoid arthritis diagnosed
according to 2010 ACR/EULAR criteria for RA had been included. Results: One hundred and five women (52 RA patients and 53 controls) were collected. The
two groups were comparable in terms of demographic characteristics. Sexual
dysfunction was found in 69.2% of cases versus 35.8% of controls. Women with RA
had poorer sexual functioning in the categories of desire, arousal,
lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain of the FSFI score compared to
healthy women (p = 0.01; p = 0.7; p = 0.3; p = 0.8; p = 0.1; and p = 0.3
respectively). Patients were 4 times more likely to have sexual dysfunction
than healthy individuals and this result was statistically significant with a
p-value less than 0.05. Conclusion: Sexual dysfunction was noted in a
large number of RA patients surveyed at the rheumatology department of the
Ignace Deen national hospital. A larger study is needed to better assess this
issue and seek management solutions.
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