Sexual well-being in patients with vulvar disease: results from a preliminary prospective matched case-control study.
BACKGROUND
Only a few studies have focused on the description of sexual well-being in patients with vulvar disease (VD). The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that VD patients have an overall impaired sexual well-being that varies depending on the type of VD.


METHODS
An observational, prospective, single center and 1:1 matched case-control study was conducted in Nantes University Hospital (France). All new patients attending the specific consultation for VD between June 2011 and January 2013 were included. A control group was randomly selected from women who had a scheduled consultation for gynecologic follow-up. A validated French version of the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) was used. This self-administered questionnaire was distributed to all case and control women. VD was classified into 4 groups: inflammatory, (pre)malignant, infectious, and other VD. Descriptive statistics and multivariate mixed analyses were performed.


RESULTS
Seventy-two VD patients and seventy-two control women completed the FSFI questionnaire. The median FSFI score was 21.1 in the VD patients versus 28.1 in the control patients. In the multivariate analysis, the FSFI score was significantly decreased by an average of 4.5 points (p=0.003) in the VD patients. On the FSFI subscores, VD had significant impacts on items related to "arousal", "pain", "lubrication", "satisfaction", and "desire". When comparing the VD groups, the total FSFI score seemed lower for (pre)malignant VD.


CONCLUSIONS
This preliminary study showed that VD patients had an impaired sexual well-being.
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Nantes University Hospital, Nantes, France. Electronic address: sophie.wylomanski@gmail.com.
Sophie
S
Wylomanski
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Nantes University Hospital, Nantes, France.
Réjane
R
Bouquin
INSERM CIC 1413, Nantes University Hospital, Nantes, France.
Matthieu
M
Hanf
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Nantes University Hospital, Nantes, France.
Norbert
N
Winer
Skin Cancer Unit INSERM 892, Nantes University Hospital, Nantes, France.
Brigitte
B
Dréno
Department of Surgery, Institut Curie, Paris, France; EA 7285 "Risk and Safety in Clinical Medicine for Women and Perinatal Health", University of Versailles St-Quentin, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France.
Roman
R
Rouzier
Skin Cancer Unit INSERM 892, Nantes University Hospital, Nantes, France.
Gaëlle
G
Quéreux
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011446:Prospective Studies; D020018:Sexual Dysfunctions, Psychological / Q000209:etiology*; D019529:Sexuality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014845:Vulvar Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*
FSFI; Sexual well-being; Vulvar diseases