The New Couple Dynamics at the Time of Covid-19: How the Sexual Health of Male and Female Individuals Has Changed during the Pandemic

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: The current pandemic has forced the population to experiencing negative psychological reactions and changes in sexual behavior. The aim of our study is to investigate how the sexual health of male and female individuals has changed during the COVID pandemic period. METHOD(S) We conducted a retrospective cohort study with an anonymous survey using the Google Forms platform on a population of individuals of both sexes. Participants were spontaneously enrolled and asked to answer questions regarding their sexual health and habits during the pre-pandemic (T0) and a pandemic (T1) period. Participants were stratified into four age groups G1 (18-35 yo), G2 (36-50 yo), G3 (51-60 yo), and G4 (61-70 yo). Male and female patients' sexual function was evaluated with IIEF-15 questionnaire and FSFI questionnaire, respectively;both populations responded to the CSFQ- 14 questionnaire. Data were compared between groups reporting the mean standard deviation (SD). Results were compared with the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the mean scores of the questionnaires were analyzed with the Wilcoxon test. RESULT(S) 244 patients, 144 males and 100 females spontaneously participate to the survey. Overall, IIEF-15 score in the general population at T1 were lower than T0 (58.95+/-15.8 vs 62.44+/-11.1, p<0.001). However, considering results divided by age groups, there was a statistically significative difference only in the younger age group (G1 58.22+/-16.9 vs 63.41+/-9.7, p<0.0001). Regarding the female subjects, the statistical analysis showed that the differences between T0 and T1 were not statistically significative both for the total population (p=0.9) and for the different age groups. Analyzing the single items of FSFI, Q15 (mean 2.77+/-1.6 vs 2.46+/-1.5, p<0.005) and Q16 (mean 2.87+/-1.5 vs 2.46+/-2.4, p<0.0001) that are part of the Satisfaction domain, demonstrated a significative differences between groups. In both gender groups there was no differences in CSFQ-14 at T0 and T1. CONCLUSION(S) During the pandemic period, the male population in our study reported an impairment in the sexual function. However, in female individuals there were no variations in the two periods analyzed. The COVID-19 pandemic has played a role in changing couple dynamics and more research will be necessary to study the effects on the sexual health of the affected population.