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Sexual health problems in French cancer survivors 2 years after diagnosis—the national VICAN survey

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to assess French cancer survivors’ sexual health 2 years after diagnosis.

Methods

Using the French National Health Insurance System database, the representative national VICAN survey was created comprising 4349 adults (12 cancer sites), still alive 2 years after diagnosis and aged 18–52 (“younger”) or 53–82 (“older”). Sexual health was evaluated using six items from the Relationship and Sexuality Scale, and an overall indicator was created.

Results

Among the study’s 1955 sexually active participants, 18.6 % (versus 13.1 %), 39.8 % (versus 39.9 %) and 29.4 % (versus 29.8 %) of men (versus women) were affected, respectively, by “strong”, “moderate” and “weak” sexual health deterioration, while 12.2 % (versus 17.1 %) were spared sexual problems (P = 0.001). Strong deterioration more often concerned older men with prostate (27.7 %) and lung (26.1 %) cancers, younger men with upper aero-digestive tract cancers (25.2 %) and women (younger/older) with cervical cancer (24.2 %). Substantial (strong/moderate) sexual health deterioration was observed for all cancer sites, rates ranging from 68.3 % (prostate) to 37.2 % (melanoma). In all four gender/age subgroups, increasing age predicted poorer sexual health, although statistical significance was not reached in older women. Apart from genital cancer, perceived consequences, such as general sequelae and fatigue, were the primary factors associated with severe sexual problems.

Conclusions

Two years after diagnosis, the majority of sexually active French cancer survivors reported impaired sexual health. Younger and older men and women with cancer in non-reproductive sites also reported problems.

Implications for Cancer Survivors

Interventions aimed at improving sexual health irrespective of age and cancer site should be developed.

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Acknowledgments

We thank all the members of the VICAN Group: Thomas Aparicio, Emmanuel Babin, François Beck, Daniel Benamouzig, Robert Benamouzig, MKB, Dominique Bessette, ADB, Philippe-Jean Bousquet, Marie-Claude Cabanel-Gicquel, Michèle Chantry, Claire Chauvet, Jacqueline Clavel, Sébastien Cortaredona, BC, Véronique Danguy, Sarah Dauchy, Mario Di Palma, Michel Dorval, Jean-Baptiste Herbet, Laetitia Huiart, Xavier Joutard, Marianick Lambert, Anne-Gaëlle Le Corroller-Soriano, Stéphane Legleye, JM, Jean-François Morère, Nora Moumjid-Ferdjaoui, Hermann Nabi, Alain Paraponaris, PPW, Graziella Pourcel, MP, Frédérique Retornaze, DR, Benoît Riandey, Laetitia Rollin, Luis Sagaon-Teyssier, Valérie Seror, Archana Singh-Manoux, Catherine Thieblemont and Patricia Verney.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. INSERM, UMR912 “Economics and Social Sciences Applied to Health & Analysis of Medical Information” (SESSTIM), 13385, Marseille, France

    Ali Ben Charif, Anne-Déborah Bouhnik, Dominique Rey, Marie Préau, Marc-Karim Bendiane, Patrick Peretti-Watel & Julien Mancini

  2. Aix Marseille Université, UMR_S912, IRD, 13385, Marseille, France

    Ali Ben Charif, Anne-Déborah Bouhnik, Dominique Rey, Marc-Karim Bendiane, Patrick Peretti-Watel & Julien Mancini

  3. ORS PACA, Southeastern Health Regional Observatory, 13385, Marseille, France

    Ali Ben Charif, Dominique Rey & Marc-Karim Bendiane

  4. IMBE UMR7263, Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, Avignon Université, Marseille, France

    Blandine Courbière

  5. Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine, APHM, La Conception Hospital, Marseille, France

    Blandine Courbière

  6. GRePS, Psychology Institute, Lyon 2 University, Bron, France

    Marie Préau

  7. APHM, La Timone Hospital, BiosTIC, 13005, Marseille, France

    Julien Mancini

Authors
  1. Ali Ben Charif
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  2. Anne-Déborah Bouhnik
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  3. Blandine Courbière
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  4. Dominique Rey
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  5. Marie Préau
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  6. Marc-Karim Bendiane
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  7. Patrick Peretti-Watel
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  8. Julien Mancini
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Julien Mancini.

Ethics declarations

Funding

The VICAN study was funded by the French National Institute of Cancer (Institut National du Cancer, INCa) “Contrat de recherche et développement no 05-2011”. ABC was supported by Regional Council (conseil régional Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur, France).

Role of the funding source

Five members of the VICAN group (Dominique Bessette, Philippe-Jean Bousquet, Claire Chauvet, Jean-Baptiste Herbet, and Hermann Nabi) are/were employed by INCa and were involved in the study design and global analysis and interpretation of VICAN data. Otherwise, the funding sources had no involvement in the study design, or in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data or in the writing of the report or in the decision to submit the article for publication.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Ben Charif, A., Bouhnik, AD., Courbière, B. et al. Sexual health problems in French cancer survivors 2 years after diagnosis—the national VICAN survey. J Cancer Surviv 10, 600–609 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-015-0506-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-015-0506-3

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