Quality of life and sexual function after hysterectomy in women with preoperative pain and depression.
OBJECTIVE
We sought to examine differences in quality of life and sexual function after hysterectomy among women with preoperative pain and depression.


METHODS
We analyzed data from a cohort study of 1,249 women who had hysterectomies for benign conditions. Participants were interviewed, before surgery and at 5 intervals after, regarding pelvic pain, depression, quality of life, and sexual function. We compared quality of life and sexual function at 6 and 24 months among women with preoperative pelvic pain alone, depression alone, both pelvic pain and depression, or neither.


RESULTS
At 24 months, women with pain and depression had reduced prevalence of pelvic pain (96.7% decreased to 19.4%), limited physical function (66.1% to 34.3%), impaired mental health (93.3% to 38.1%), and limited social function (41.1% to 15.1%). Women with pain only improved in pelvic pain (95.1% to 9.3%) and limited activity level (74.3% to 24.2%). The group with depression only had improvement in impaired mental health (85.1% to 33.1%). Dyspareunia decreased in all groups. Compared with women who had neither pain nor depression, women with depression and pain had 3 to 5 times the odds of continued impaired quality of life: odds ratio (OR) 2.73, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.78-4.19 for limited physical function; OR 3.41, 95% CI 2.13-5.46 for impaired mental health; OR 5.76, 95% CI 2.79-11.87 for limited social function; OR 4.91, 95% CI 2.63-9.16 for continued pelvic pain; and OR 2.41, 95% CI 1.26-4.62 for dyspareunia.


CONCLUSIONS
Women with pelvic pain and depression fare less well 24 months after hysterectomy than women who have either disorder alone or neither. Nevertheless, these women improve substantially over their preoperative baseline in all the quality of life and sexual function areas assessed.


METHODS
II-2
Center for Women's Health Research, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, 725 Airport Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7590, USA. khartman@med.unc.edu
Katherine E
KE
Hartmann
Cindy
C
Ma
Georgine M
GM
Lamvu
Patricia W
PW
Langenberg
John F
JF
Steege
Kristen H
KH
Kjerulff
D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007044:Hysterectomy / Q000523:psychology*; D008396:Maryland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D017699:Pelvic Pain / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D019529:Sexuality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires