Prevalence of sexual dysfunction (SD) in women with Multiple Sclerosis (MS): a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Sexual Dysfunction (SD) is an important issue in women suffering from MS. There is a large discrepancy in the prevalence rates of SD among the studies conducted in different geographical regions.Objective: This study aims to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the prevalence of sexual dysfunction in women with MS.Methods: We searched through PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science, Ovid, google scholar, and gray literature, including references of identified studies and conference abstracts, which were published up to April 2019. The search strategy included the MeSH and text words as (sexual function) OR sexual dysfunction) AND (Multiple Sclerosis OR Sclerosis, Multiple) OR Sclerosis, Disseminated) OR Disseminated Sclerosis) OR MS (Multiple Sclerosis)) OR Multiple Sclerosis, Acute Fulminating) AND (Female Sexual Function Index OR FSFI). The articles were assessed by two independent researchers.Results: One hundred sixty eight related articles were found as the result of literature search, nine of which were selected for final analysis; 2 studies from Greece, 3 from Iran, one from Turkey, one from Poland, one from Germany, and one from Italy. In total, 1060 MS cases were analyzed. The prevalence of SD varied from 27% to 95% and the pooled estimate was calculated as 55% (95% CI:41%-69%), (I2=96.3%, P<0.01). Conclusion: discrepant prevalence rates of SD among women with MS in different countries shows that MS patients should be considered for assessment and management of SD.

Keywords:

sexual dysfunction , multiple sclerosis , systematic review , prevalence