Women's sexual health after delivery and its related influential factors / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The postnatal sexual health of women is crucial in reproductive health, due to lack of sexual knowledge and sexual heath care service as well as conventional idea, the medical staff and postnatal women themselves pay little attention and discussion on the sexual health after childbirth.OBJECTIVE; To investigate the prevalence and types of women's sexual problems after childbirth, identify the factors associated with dyspareunia and investigate the status quo of postnatal sexual health care service. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study and follow-up survey within six months after delivery.SETTING: Department of Reproductive Medicine, Chongqing University of Medical Sciences. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 798 primiparous women delivering a live birth in Department of Obstetrics at the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing University of Medical Sciences between November 2000 and July 2001, and 79 husbands who accompanied their wives during the follow-ups were adopted in this study.METHODS: The primiparous women after 6 months of childbirth and husbands conducted routine postnatal follow-ups and were informed of the follow-up content. The interview was used in this cross-sectional study and the questionnaires were finished under the help of health professional. And some advice, consultations and treatments can be given in time. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES; ①main change of postnatal sexual life;②postnatal sexual problems and related factors. RESULTS: Totally 460 out of 798 primiparous women in accordance with the inclusive and exclusive criterions received follow-up surveys after telephone or letter notification. ①Main change of postnatal sexual life: Of the 460 respondents, 94.74% had resumed sexual activity within six months after delivery. Compared with one year pre-pregnancy, the number of sexual activity decreased obviously within 3-6 months after delivery, and 66.0％ of postnatal women decreased the sexual desire.②Postnatal sexual problems and related factors: Sexual morbidity increased significantly after the childbirth: In the first three months after delivery, 70.6％ of women experienced sexual problem(s), declining to 55.6％ during the 4th-6th months, and reduced to 34.2％ at the 6th month, but not reaching pre-pregnancy levels of 7.17％. The sexual problems of women after delivery included dyspareunia, vaginal dryness, orgasm disorder and vaginal relaxation, etc.4. And dyspareunia was the most common type. Between the 4th and 6th month after delivery, dyspareunia was significantly associated with the effect of traditional sexual ideas, experience of dyspareunia before pregnancy and current breastfeeding (P ＜ 0.05), while the association of dyspareunia with delivery mode was not significant.③Sexual care service and sexual counseling after delivery: Only 20.8％ of women received information about sexual health from health care personnel within 42 days after delivery, and consultation rate of sexual intercourse problems was 8.0％.④Husbands' comprehension of postnatal problems in women: Only 59.2％ of partners whose wives had postnatal sexual problem(s) knew that their wives had ever experienced sexual problem(s) and 8.1％ of partners had sought medical help. CONCLUSION; Sexual health problems are very common in women after childbirth, taking up for 70.6％. And the quality of postnatal sexual health is unrelated with delivery mode, but postnatal health care service are often overlooked, additionally lack of professional counseling and treatment. The current practices of encouraging the husband's supports after the childbirth may well influence the prevention and treatment of postnatal sexual problems in women.