Women's sexuality after childbirth: A cross sectional study

Background: Short-term postpartum sexual problem are highly prevalent ranging from 22 to 86: however, there are few studies that address how mode of delivery affects sexual functioning after childbirth. Objective: To investigate the impact of childbirth on the sexual health of primiparous women and identify factors associated with sexual problems. Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out investigating women's sexual problems and postal survey up to six months after delivery. All women had resumed sexual intercourse and were asked a detailed set of questionnaire about problems experienced. Sample: A cohort of 160 consecutive primiparous women delivering a live birth was identified. To investigate women's postnatal sexual problems. Women were classified as experiencing sexual problems before pregnancy and after delivery. Differences between proportions were tested using chi-square tests or fisher exact test and independent samples TTest, as appropriate. For paired proportions, the McNemar test was used. The analysis was carried out using SSPS for windows. Result: Of the 160 respondents all of them had resumed sexual activity within six months of the birth. Sexual problems such as painful penetration (P<0.05), pain during sexual intercourse (P<0.001), lack of vaginal lubrication (P<0.001), difficulty reaching orgasm(P<0.001), pain on orgasm(P<0.02), anal sexual relation after delivery(P<0.05). Six months after delivery the association between difficulty reaching orgasm with marriage duration (P=0.04), pain during sexual intercourse with number of intercourse per week (P=0.03), pain during sexual intercourse with time of first intercourse (P=0.03), Conclusion: sexual health problem were very common after childbirth, suggesting potentially high levels of unmet need. © EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2006