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Sexual activity and functioning in long-term breast cancer survivors; exploring associated factors in a nationwide survey
PURPOSE: Sexual health is a key quality of life issue. Knowledge concerning sexual health in long-term breast cancer survivors (BCSs) is limited. Within a nationwide sample, we aimed to assess the prevalence of sexual inactivity and to explore factors associated with sexual inactivity and reduced se...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Springer US
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8993724/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35226237 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10549-022-06544-0 |
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author | Smedsland, Solveig K. Vandraas, Kathrine F. Bøhn, Synne K. Dahl, Alv A. Kiserud, Cecilie E. Brekke, Mette Falk, Ragnhild S. Reinertsen, Kristin V. |
author_facet | Smedsland, Solveig K. Vandraas, Kathrine F. Bøhn, Synne K. Dahl, Alv A. Kiserud, Cecilie E. Brekke, Mette Falk, Ragnhild S. Reinertsen, Kristin V. |
author_sort | Smedsland, Solveig K. |
collection | PubMed |
description | PURPOSE: Sexual health is a key quality of life issue. Knowledge concerning sexual health in long-term breast cancer survivors (BCSs) is limited. Within a nationwide sample, we aimed to assess the prevalence of sexual inactivity and to explore factors associated with sexual inactivity and reduced sexual functioning among long-term BCSs. METHODS: Long-term BCSs aged 20–65 years when diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer in 2011–2012 were identified by the Cancer Registry of Norway in 2019 (n = 2803) and invited to participate in a nationwide survey. Sexual health was measured using the multidimensional Sexual Activity Questionnaire. Factors associated with sexual inactivity and reduced sexual functioning were explored using multivariable logistic- and linear regression analyses with adjustments for relevant sociodemographic, health-, and cancer-related variables. RESULTS: The final sample consisted of 1307 BCSs with a mean age of 52 years at diagnosis. Fifty-two percent of the BCSs were sexually inactive. Lack of interest was the most common reason for sexual inactivity. Treatment with aromatase inhibitor (OR 1.73, 95% CI 1.23, 2.43) and poor body image (OR 0.99, 95% CI 0.99, 0.995) were associated with sexual inactivity. Among sexually active BCSs, depression (B − 1.04, 95% CI − 2.10, − 0.02) and physical inactivity (B − 0.61, 95% CI − 1.21, − 0.02) were inversely related to sexual pleasure. Treatment with aromatase inhibitor (B 0.61, 95% CI 0.20, 1.01), sleep problems (B 0.37, 95% CI 0.04, 0.70), breast symptoms (B 0.01, 95% CI 0.003, 0.02), and chronic fatigue (B 0.43, 95% CI 0.05, 0.81) were associated with sexual discomfort. Chemotherapy (OR 1.91, 95% CI 1.23, 2.97), current endocrine treatment (OR 1.98, 95% CI 1.21, 3.25), and poor body image (OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.98, 0.99) were associated with less sexual activity at present compared to before breast cancer. CONCLUSION: Treatment with aromatase inhibitor seems to affect sexual health even beyond discontinuation. Several common late effects were associated with sexual inactivity and reduced sexual functioning. To identify BCSs at risk of sexual dysfunction, special attention should be paid to patients treated with aromatase inhibitor or suffering from these late effects. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8993724 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | Springer US |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-89937242022-04-22 Sexual activity and functioning in long-term breast cancer survivors; exploring associated factors in a nationwide survey Smedsland, Solveig K. Vandraas, Kathrine F. Bøhn, Synne K. Dahl, Alv A. Kiserud, Cecilie E. Brekke, Mette Falk, Ragnhild S. Reinertsen, Kristin V. Breast Cancer Res Treat Epidemiology PURPOSE: Sexual health is a key quality of life issue. Knowledge concerning sexual health in long-term breast cancer survivors (BCSs) is limited. Within a nationwide sample, we aimed to assess the prevalence of sexual inactivity and to explore factors associated with sexual inactivity and reduced sexual functioning among long-term BCSs. METHODS: Long-term BCSs aged 20–65 years when diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer in 2011–2012 were identified by the Cancer Registry of Norway in 2019 (n = 2803) and invited to participate in a nationwide survey. Sexual health was measured using the multidimensional Sexual Activity Questionnaire. Factors associated with sexual inactivity and reduced sexual functioning were explored using multivariable logistic- and linear regression analyses with adjustments for relevant sociodemographic, health-, and cancer-related variables. RESULTS: The final sample consisted of 1307 BCSs with a mean age of 52 years at diagnosis. Fifty-two percent of the BCSs were sexually inactive. Lack of interest was the most common reason for sexual inactivity. Treatment with aromatase inhibitor (OR 1.73, 95% CI 1.23, 2.43) and poor body image (OR 0.99, 95% CI 0.99, 0.995) were associated with sexual inactivity. Among sexually active BCSs, depression (B − 1.04, 95% CI − 2.10, − 0.02) and physical inactivity (B − 0.61, 95% CI − 1.21, − 0.02) were inversely related to sexual pleasure. Treatment with aromatase inhibitor (B 0.61, 95% CI 0.20, 1.01), sleep problems (B 0.37, 95% CI 0.04, 0.70), breast symptoms (B 0.01, 95% CI 0.003, 0.02), and chronic fatigue (B 0.43, 95% CI 0.05, 0.81) were associated with sexual discomfort. Chemotherapy (OR 1.91, 95% CI 1.23, 2.97), current endocrine treatment (OR 1.98, 95% CI 1.21, 3.25), and poor body image (OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.98, 0.99) were associated with less sexual activity at present compared to before breast cancer. CONCLUSION: Treatment with aromatase inhibitor seems to affect sexual health even beyond discontinuation. Several common late effects were associated with sexual inactivity and reduced sexual functioning. To identify BCSs at risk of sexual dysfunction, special attention should be paid to patients treated with aromatase inhibitor or suffering from these late effects. Springer US 2022-02-28 2022 /pmc/articles/PMC8993724/ /pubmed/35226237 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10549-022-06544-0 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
spellingShingle | Epidemiology Smedsland, Solveig K. Vandraas, Kathrine F. Bøhn, Synne K. Dahl, Alv A. Kiserud, Cecilie E. Brekke, Mette Falk, Ragnhild S. Reinertsen, Kristin V. Sexual activity and functioning in long-term breast cancer survivors; exploring associated factors in a nationwide survey |
title | Sexual activity and functioning in long-term breast cancer survivors; exploring associated factors in a nationwide survey |
title_full | Sexual activity and functioning in long-term breast cancer survivors; exploring associated factors in a nationwide survey |
title_fullStr | Sexual activity and functioning in long-term breast cancer survivors; exploring associated factors in a nationwide survey |
title_full_unstemmed | Sexual activity and functioning in long-term breast cancer survivors; exploring associated factors in a nationwide survey |
title_short | Sexual activity and functioning in long-term breast cancer survivors; exploring associated factors in a nationwide survey |
title_sort | sexual activity and functioning in long-term breast cancer survivors; exploring associated factors in a nationwide survey |
topic | Epidemiology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8993724/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35226237 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10549-022-06544-0 |
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