Inflammatory bowel disease is associated with worse sexual function: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Several studies report that sexuality is often affected by inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). The aim of this meta-analysis was to investigate the association between IBD and sexual function. METHODS: A literature search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, and EMBASE databases (up to September 1, 2020). Scores of sexual functions with a standard deviation and odds ratio (OR) or relative risk (RR) with a 95% CI were used to analysis the association between IBD and sexual function. RESULTS: Eleven studies with 7,018 male IBD cases and 1,803 female IBD cases were included in the meta-analysis. In male individuals, the pooled results revealed that IBD was significantly associated with impaired erectile function and poor sexual satisfaction (RR for erectile function =1.50, 95% CI: 1.22 to 1.84, P<0.0001; standard mean difference for sexual satisfaction =−0.24, 95% CI: −0.33 to −0.15, P<0.0001). And among female individuals, IBD had impact on most sub-domains of sexual function, except pains. CONCLUSIONS: IBD is associated with worse sexual function. It has significant impact on erectile function and satisfaction for male individuals and has impact on most sub-domains of sexual function for female individuals.