About 70% of women have sexual problems after breast cancer, researchers in Australia revealed in a new study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine. Problems included libido, sexual satisfaction, concerns about body image which interfered with their sex drive, and menopausal symptoms linked to breast cancer treatments.
Mary Panjari, PhD, of the Women’s Health Program at Monash University, and team investigated the sexual well-being of women almost two years after diagnosis and initial treatment for breast cancer. The study involved 1,700 women, all of them breast cancer survivors who took part in the BUPA Foundation Health and Wellbeing after Breast Cancer Study.
More than 80% of all the participants said they had had a good sex life before breast cancer diagnosis. Two years after diagnosis and initial treatment 70% of them, aged up to 70 years, reported that they had sexual function problems.
A significant proportion of the participants with sexual problems were concerned about their body image after breast cancer, the authors write. The study also revealed that specific breast cancer treatments appeared to raise the risk of menopausal symptoms, which can sometimes result in sexual problems.
The researchers explain that adjuvant endocrine therapies – treatment for hormone receptor positive breast cancer with additional hormone drugs to prevent breast cancer recurrence after surgery and radiotherapy – can exacerbate menopausal symptoms and undermine sexual function.
The authors found that women who did not receive endocrine therapy had no association between sexual dysfunction and vasomotor symptoms. Vasomotor symptoms are menopausal symptoms, such as night sweats and hot flushes. Vasomotor relates to the nerves and muscles that cause the blood vessels to constrict (narrow) or dilate (expand).
Dr. Panjari concludes:
Women who have been diagnosed and treated for breast cancer still require support to maintain health and well-being after breast cancer. As women now remain on aromatase inhibitors for longer periods, sexual function problems are likely to become more common amongst breast cancer survivors.
“Sexual Function After Breast Cancer”
Panjari, Bell, and Davis
2010; DOI: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.02034.x
Written by Christian Nordqvist