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Sexual dysfunction in patients with cancer, a challenge in oncology practice: results of the CLARIFY project

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Abstract

Background

Sexual dysfunction (SD) associated with oncological treatment is a common and understudied disorder. Our aim was to characterize SD in a cohort of Spanish patients.

Methods

Analytic observational study in patients included in the CLARIFY H2020 project at the Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro. Clinical variables and validated measures of sexual function were collected from October 2020 to May 2022. Frequency and quality of sexual activity were assessed. Descriptive, trend associations, and logistic regression analyses were performed.

Results

A total of 383 patients were included: breast cancer 68.14% (261), lung cancer 26.37% (101), and lymphoma 5.50% (21). Mean age was 56.5 years (range 33–88). 19.58% (75) were men and 80.42% (308) were women. 69% and 31% of men and women, respectively, reported being sexually active. The absolute frequency of overall sexual dissatisfaction was 76% in women and 24% in men. Women with breast cancer were most likely to have severe sexual dysfunction. Those with early disease had resolved complaints after 5 years. In multinomial logistic regression, significant associations were found in women with metastatic breast cancer and severe disorders of arousal (p 0.000), lubrication (p 0.002), orgasm (p 0.000), as well as dissatisfaction with sexual performance (p 0.000) and global sexual dissatisfaction (p 0.000). Women with lung cancer have severe arousal dysfunction (p 0.016) and global sexual dissatisfaction (p 0.044).

Conclusions

Our population has a high prevalence of SD, which supports the need to increase awareness of this disorder among the medical oncology team and the importance of including sexual health assessment in oncological patient follow-up.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [AVO], upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

To European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme for grant agreement to develop this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Investigación Sanitaria Puerta de Hierro-Segovia de Arana (IDIPHISA), Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro-Majadahonda, C/Manuel de Falla, 1, 28222, Madrid, Majadahonda, España

    Aylen Vanessa Ospina-Serrano, Constanza Maximiano, Blanca Cantos, Maria Torrente, Miriam Mendez, Juan Cristobal Sanchez, Virginia Calvo, Ana Collazo-Lorduy, Mariola Blanco, Beatriz Nuñez, Consuelo Parejo, Paula Martinez & Mariano Provencio-Pulla

  2. Hospital Universitario Fundación Santa Fe de Bogotá, Bogota, Colombia

    Ivan Triana

  3. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Narjust Duma

Authors
  1. Aylen Vanessa Ospina-Serrano
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  2. Constanza Maximiano
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  3. Blanca Cantos
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  4. Maria Torrente
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  5. Miriam Mendez
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  6. Juan Cristobal Sanchez
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  7. Virginia Calvo
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  8. Ana Collazo-Lorduy
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  10. Beatriz Nuñez
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  11. Ivan Triana
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  15. Mariano Provencio-Pulla
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aylen Vanessa Ospina-Serrano.

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Conflict of interest

AVO reports consultant fees from AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb Company, Pfizer, Merck, Takeda Oncology and Roche; and support for attending meetings and/or travel from Pfizer, Roche, MSD and Janssen. VC reports consultant fees form Roche, BMS, MSD, Astrazeneca, Takeda, Pfizer, Lilly, AMGEN and Sanofi and support for attending meeting and/or travel: Takeda, Roche. ND reports consultant fees from Merck, Mirati, Regeneron, Pfizer, Astrazeneca, DSI, BMS and neogenomics MP reports consultant fees from AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb Company, Eli LIlly, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Janssen, Pfizer, MSD, Takeda Oncology and Roche; and support for attending meetings and/or travel from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb Company, Eli LIlly, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Pierre Fabre Pharmaceuticals, Takeda Oncology and Roche. The ohers authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. This paper is part of the CLARIFY project that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No. 875160. 7 The contents in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Neither the European Union institutions and bodies nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Ethical approval

This study adhered to the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki (2013). The use of information exclusively for scientific purposes was guaranteed, and 6 the right to privacy was protected by omitting the identifying data of the participating subjects. The protocol for this research was presented to and approved by the ethics committee of the Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro, Majadahonda, Madrid.

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Informed consent has been obtained from all patients in this study.

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Ospina-Serrano, A.V., Maximiano, C., Cantos, B. et al. Sexual dysfunction in patients with cancer, a challenge in oncology practice: results of the CLARIFY project. Clin Transl Oncol 26, 1147–1156 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-023-03332-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-023-03332-0

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