Sexual Morbidity Associated With Poorer Psychological Adjustment Among Gynecological Cancer Survivors

Note: excerpts from abstract

Objectives: Sexual morbidity is a distressing and undertreated problem in gynecological cancer survivorship known to occur early and persist well beyond the period of physical recovery.

Methods: A cross-sectional design was used. The participants were gynecological (cervical, endometrial, ovarian, and vulvar) cancer survivors who were partnered (N = 186), whose cancer was diagnosed 2 to 10 years previously, and who were at least 6 months post any cancer therapy. Most had been found to have early-stage disease (70%) and were treated with hysterectomy (77%), chemotherapy (43%), and/or radiotherapy (23%).
Conclusions: These findings suggest that prevention or treatment of sexual morbidity might foster improved psychological adjustment/QoL. Given the high rates of sexual morbidity in this population and the connection between sexuality and broader psychological adjustment/QoL, there is a clear need for better integration of sexuality rehabilitation into routine clinical care.