Sexual function of primiparous women after elective cesarean section and normal vaginal delivery.
OBJECTIVE
To compare sexual function between two groups of women who had normal vaginal delivery (NVD) and planned cesarean section (PCS).


METHODS
In this cross-sectional study, two groups of healthy women, with antenatally normal singleton pregnancies at term, who underwent NVD (n = 114) or PCS without labor (n = 99), have been retrospectively studied. Sexual function of participants was assessed using physician-administered Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) questionnaire before pregnancy and 6 and 24 months after delivery. Primary outcome measures were questions 3 to 6 and 14 to 16 from FSFI questionnaire. Secondary outcome measures included the remaining items.


RESULTS
There were no significant differences regarding six domains of sexual function, including desire (P = .55), arousal (P = .39), lubrication (P = .45), orgasm (P = .36), pain (P = .74), and satisfaction (P = .39) between the two groups. Eighty percent of women who had undergone vaginal delivery complained from hypotonic pelvic floor muscles.


CONCLUSIONS
We believe that PCS is not preferred to NVD in regard to preserving normal sexual functioning.
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Ladan
L
Hosseini
Elham
E
Iran-Pour
Mohammad Reza
MR
Safarinejad
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D002585:Cesarean Section / Q000009:adverse effects; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009123:Muscle Hypotonia / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D009948:Orgasm; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology; D010298:Parity; D036801:Parturition; D017773:Pelvic Floor / Q000502:physiology; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012735:Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological / Q000209:etiology*; D020018:Sexual Dysfunctions, Psychological / Q000209:etiology*; D019529:Sexuality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult