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 In the multicenter study that included more than 2,000 men and women
who had problems with sexual functioning before surgery, researchers
found that more than half reported improvements in their sex lives
within a year of the surgery. The improved functioning continued for
most of these patients through five years of follow-up, the study
team reports in JAMA Surgery.
"Satisfaction with sexual life is improved by one year after
bariatric surgery, and this improvement is maintained in both men
and women by five years post-surgery," said the study's lead author,
Kristine Steffen of the School of Pharmacy at North Dakota State
University in Fargo.
At the start of the study, the 1,607 women and 429 men included in
the analysis had filled out questionnaires that asked about sexual
function and satisfaction, and all had reported problems. The
questions included whether, in the past month, the individual had
"felt sexual desire or interest, that is, desire or interest to
engage in any activity that is arousing to you, alone or with a
partner," as well as how often they had participated in sexual
activity, how much their physical health had limited sexual
activity, and how satisfied overall they were with their sex lives.
The questions were asked again one year and five years post-surgery.
Prior to surgery 1,015 of 1,456 (69.7 percent) women and 304 of 409
(74.3 percent) said they were not satisfied with their sex lives.
Among the participants who were dissatisfied, 56 percent of women
and 49.2 percent of men experienced meaningful improvements at one
year.
Specifically, men were 1.57 times more likely than they were before
the surgery to experience improvements in the frequency of feeling
sexual desire, 1.53 times more likely to experience improvements in
the frequency of sexual activity, 3.97 times more likely to
experience fewer physical limitations to having sex and 2.37 times
more likely to experience improvements in satisfaction with their
sex lives.
Women were 1.5 times more likely a year post-surgery than before
their operations to experience improvements in the frequency of
feeling sexual desire, 1.53 times more likely to experience
improvements in the frequency of sexual activity, 3.7 times more
likely to experience fewer physical limitations to having sex and
2.11 times more likely to experience improvements in satisfaction
with their sex lives.
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Many of these improvements lasted for a full five years. For those
who had improvements at year one in physical limitations, for
instance, three quarters of the women and more than two thirds of
the men continued to report improvement at year five.
"There were significantly fewer women who had improvements in
frequency of desire, frequency of activity and degree to which
physical health limits sexual activity at year five post-surgery
compared with year one post-surgery," Steffen noted in an email.
"In women, early improvement in satisfaction with sexual life was
maintained by year five. In men dissatisfied before surgery, early
improvements were maintained by year five in all domains except the
degree to which physical health limits sexual activity."
"(The new study) highlights the importance of looking beyond what we
traditionally look at with bariatric surgery," said Dr. Kimberley
Steele of Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. "Traditionally we're
looking at weight-loss outcomes and outcomes related to weight loss,
such as diabetes, cholesterol, hypertension and sleep apnea."
Steele, who wasn't involved in the study, said she hopes it will
raise awareness about "something that is not talked about that
often: sexual function." Almost 70 percent of women and 74.3 percent
of men listed that as a problem for them preoperatively, she noted.
"This was a nice way through validated surgery and a large cohort to
show how weight loss through bariatric surgery improves sexual
function and therefore quality of life," Steele said. "More women
than men seek bariatric surgery. By raising awareness that weight
loss improved sexual dysfunction and therefore also quality of life,
maybe this will encourage more men to consider the option of
bariatric surgery."
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2Iwbz1y and https://bit.ly/2XhBYDA JAMA
Surgery, online February 20, 2019.
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