Sexual Dysfunction in Women with Hypertension: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Purpose of ReviewWe aimed to evaluate the prevalence of sexual dysfunction in hypertensive women and compare sexual dysfunction between hypertensive and non-hypertensive women.Recent FindingsConducted a systematic review in the following databases: PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, IBECS, and Lilacs.We included articles evaluating the prevalence of sexual dysfunction in a woman and/or comparing sexual dysfunction between hypertensive and non-hypertensive women. Studies were excluded if they evaluated patients with secondary hypertension, examined sexual dysfunction caused by drugs, did not distinguish by gender, or included patients with hypertension and other comorbidities/pathologies.We conducted an I-2 test to calculate heterogeneity and a meta-analysis to compare sexual dysfunction between hypertensive and non-hypertensive women. A meta-regression equation calculated the relationship between sexual dysfunction risk for hypertensive and age.Eleven articles were included: five were included in the meta-analysis (1057 hypertensive and 715 normotensive). The prevalence of sexual dysfunction in articles varied from 14.1 to 90.1%. In the meta-analysis of the sexual dysfunction, the relative risk between hypertensive and normotensive women was found to be significant and has a high heterogeneity (I-2 =92.6%, p < 0.001); the pooled results revealed a significant risk ratio of 1.81 (95% CI 1.10-2.97, p < 0.05). The relative risk for hypertensive women showed an association with age (b = 0.0333, p < 0.0001).SummaryThe studies analyzed presented significant limitations in relation to methodology and a small sample size. Consequently, the meta-analysis was highly heterogeneous and reinforced the need for further research in this area.