The Incidence of Sexual Dysfunction in Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Introduction: Several studies have suggested that patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) frequently have symptoms of sexual dysfunction. Aim: The current study aims to map the current knowledge about the burden of sexual dysfunction in patients with IBS. Methods: A literature review was conducted on PubMed and EMBASE using the following search terms or combinations thereof: irritable bowel syndrome; functional colonic disease; sexual function; sexual health; sexual behavior; sexual dysfunction; dyspareunia; erectile dysfunction; quality of life; and questionnaire. Main Outcome Measure: Sexual dysfunction. Results: 1,273 texts were found, 331 duplicates were removed, and 844 texts were excluded because they did not meet the inclusion criteria, leaving 98 full text articles. These were examined and it was found that 41 fulfilled the criteria. 4 questionnaires were found; Irritable Bowel Syndrome Quality of Life (IBS-QOL) questionnaire, the Irritable Bowel Syndrome e Quality of Life (IBSQOL) questionnaire, the Irritable Bowel Syndrome-36 question (IBS-36) questionnaire, and the Arizona Sexual Experience Scale. Subscores for sexual relations in IBS-QOL ranged from 37.7-100 (11.9) for patients with IBS and 82.2-100 (6.6) for controls. The IBSQOL and IBS-36 subscores for sexual relations ranged from 49.7-90.5 (9) to 3.9-5.4 (0.8) with no healthy controls for comparison. After interventions were implemented, there was an improvement in subscores (the IBS-QOL mean changed to 10.5%, IBSQOL mean changed to 3.8%, and the IBS-36 mean changed to 40%). The study using Arizona Sexual Experience Scale showed that 51% of patients with IBS had sexual dysfunction and also scored lower on the IBSQOL questionnaire. Conclusion: The information about sexual dysfunction in patients with IBS is sparse and emerges primarily from quality of life questionnaires. It seems as though patients with IBS have more sexual problems compared to controls, but further investigation regarding the extent and type of sexual dysfunction is needed. Copyright (C) 2019, The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the International Society for Sexual Medicine.