title: Evaluation of recovery and quality of sexual activity in women during postpartum in relation to the different mode of delivery: a retrospective analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Aim of the study was to assess the recovery and quality of sexual activity of women during postpartum, in relation to delivery.
  
  
  METHODS
  We recruited 200 women at 8 weeks after delivery. For each patient we recorded mode of delivery, age, body mass index (BMI), parity and test Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) score.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty-four women (32%) had spontaneous deliveries without episiotomy, 48 (24%) had it with episiotomy, 88 (44%) had caesarean sections. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) test showed no significant differences among the 3 groups for age, BMI, parity. The test FSFI evidenced 68 cases (34%) of Regular Female Sexual Function (RFSF) and 132 (66%) of Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD). The ANOVA test showed significant differences among the 3 groups in RFSF (F [2, 14]=8.075, P=0.005), but not in FSD (F [2, 30]=2.646, P=0.087). In RFSF, FSFI score was higher in women who had vaginal delivery with episiotomy compared with the other two groups. Conversely, in FSD (both with or without resumed sexual activity at 8 weeks postpartum) we evidenced that patients who had vaginal delivery with episiotomy showed lower FSFI score than the other two groups, with a decrease in lubrication, orgasm and satisfaction scores. Furthermore, we observed that most of the RFSF patients had a job and breastfed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results did not evidence a direct and significant correlation between mode of delivery and onset of female postpartum sexual dysfunction, even if FSD patients who underwent episiotomy during delivery markedly showed low FSFI scores.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric, Gynecological Microbiological and Biomedical SciencesAOU "G. Martino", University of Messina, Messina, Italy - antlagana@unime.it.
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Laganà
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Burgio
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ciancimino
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sicilia
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pizzo
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Magno
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Butticè
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Triolo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002585:Cesarean Section; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000379:methods*; D004841:Episiotomy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009948:Orgasm / Q000502:physiology; D049590:Postpartum Period / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000502:physiology*