Women's sexual health six months after a severe maternal morbidity event.
Lisiane Camargo Alves, Jessica Ribeiro Costa, Juliana Cristina Dos Santos Monteiro and 1 others
PMID 32578751WHAT IT FOUND
No overall sexual dysfunction difference was found at 180 days after severe maternal morbidity.
Women with severe maternal morbidity reported more pain during intercourse.
Key findings
01Overall female sexual dysfunction was not associated with having had severe maternal morbidity.
02Sexual dysfunction was present in 44.5% of participants, including 48.7% of women with severe maternal morbidity and 42.0% of women without.
03Women who had severe maternal morbidity reported more pain during sexual intercourse than women who did not.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study compared women only once, at 180 days after discharge, so it cannot show what caused the pain finding or whether problems existed before pregnancy. A sample calculation indicated 231 participants were needed, but only 110 women participated. Sexual function was measured by self-report, and the authors say women may have felt shy during the interview. The Female Sexual Function Index was designed for women without health problems, and the paper says no specific instrument exists for women after severe maternal morbidity. Participants were postpartum women being discharged and living within 60 kilometers, so it may not apply to women who were not discharged from these services, who lived farther away, or who had excluded health conditions. The pain finding was a domain result after the overall sexual dysfunction comparison was null.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the pain result as proof that severe maternal morbidity causes sexual problems. The study measured women only once at 180 days after discharge, and did not find an overall association with sexual dysfunction.