COVID‑19‑related postponement of elective sexual or reproductive health operations deteriorates private and sexual life: an ongoing nightmare study

We aimed to assess the impact of postponing sexual or reproductive health surgeries on patients’ psychosocial distress and personal or occupational life during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 77 elective sexual or reproductive health surgeries were postponed. Of them, 38 patients are still on the waiting list for an appointment and, despite our efforts, we managed to operate only 39 patients when operation capacity returned to a normal level. At the time of surgery, all patients were requested to complete a 14-item questionnaire, assessing patients’ perception of the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients marked the necessity of operation at the time of initial postponement as urgent and as highly urgent at the time of surgery. Due to the postponement of surgery, they reported experiencing severe restrictions in private life and more concerns and worries for their disease. Interestingly, patients who could not perform sexual intercourse due to the underlying disease wanted to receive surgery more urgently (p = 0.001) and displayed more restrictions in private life (p = 0.007). On the contrary, the duration of surgery postponement was not associated with worse outcomes. Overall, postponement of surgery poses a huge psychological burden that leads to further personal restrictions. Patients that cannot perform sexual intercourse should be prioritized for treatment.