A Preliminary Study of Short-Term Sexual Function and Satisfaction Among Men Post-Myocardial Infarction.

Only 24 men were analysed, from a pilot survey with a 44% response rate, so the results are preliminary. Women returned surveys but were excluded from analysis because of the small number. The study had no pre-MI sexual function data, so it cannot show how much change each man experienced. It was a single-site tertiary hospital sample and was mostly White, married, and college-educated, so it may not apply to other communities. Four men with incomplete satisfaction items were removed from satisfaction and total score analyses. The design was cross-sectional and descriptive, so correlations do not show that sexual function caused satisfaction or fear, or that any nursing advice improved outcomes. Sexual fear scores were generally low, which may have produced a floor effect and weakened correlations. The small sample size limited the ability to control for covariates.

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Do not conclude that this study proves nurses' sexual-health counselling improves post-MI recovery or that all men after MI have low sexual function. It was a small cross-sectional pilot survey of 24 men from one hospital, without pre-MI comparison or an intervention, so it only describes scores at one early time point.