Abasher Sanaa M
School of Psychology, Ahfad University for Women, Sudan.
Psychooncology. 2009 Aug;18(8):858-65. doi: 10.1002/pon.1489.
Recent Sudanese studies have focused on depression and anxiety in women treated for breast cancer (BrCa). Less is known about whether such women suffer from sexual disturbances due to different cancer treatments. This study compares BrCa patients with a healthy control group and assessed the impact of cancer treatment types.
The BrCa group included women treated for BrCa with mastectomies, chemotherapy and radiotherapy (N=100). Some received hormonal therapy (N=60) and others had not yet received it (N=40). The control group comprised women who had never had BrCa, non-BrCa (N=100). Outcomes were assessed using the Watts Sexual Function Questionnaire.
It was found that many women treated for BrCa suffered from sexual disturbances before hormonal treatment while some regained sexual activity during hormonal treatment. Demographic data show negative correlation (P=0.03) between sexual function and age of the patients, positive correlation (P=0.002) between sexual function and educational level and positive correlation (P=0.031) as well between sexual function and the patient's length of marriage.
This study helps to fill the gap in the literature about Sudanese women's sexuality, as many studies indicate the effect of some psychological disturbance (depression and anxiety) and ignoring the effect of sexual function in enhancing patient's quality of life.
苏丹近期的研究聚焦于接受乳腺癌（BrCa）治疗的女性的抑郁和焦虑情况。对于此类女性是否因不同的癌症治疗而遭受性功能障碍，人们了解较少。本研究将乳腺癌患者与健康对照组进行比较，并评估癌症治疗类型的影响。
乳腺癌组包括接受乳房切除术、化疗和放疗的乳腺癌女性患者（N = 100）。部分患者接受了激素治疗（N = 60），其他患者尚未接受激素治疗（N = 40）。对照组由从未患过乳腺癌的非乳腺癌女性组成（N = 100）。使用瓦茨性功能问卷评估结果。
研究发现，许多接受乳腺癌治疗的女性在接受激素治疗前就存在性功能障碍，而部分女性在激素治疗期间恢复了性活动。人口统计学数据显示，性功能与患者年龄之间呈负相关（P = 0.03），与教育水平呈正相关（P = 0.002），与患者婚姻时长也呈正相关（P = 0.031）。
本研究有助于填补关于苏丹女性性取向的文献空白，因为许多研究表明了一些心理障碍（抑郁和焦虑）的影响，而忽视了性功能对提高患者生活质量的影响。
