Division of Clinical Neuroscience, National Centre for Epilepsy, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
Section for Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
Epilepsia. 2019 Sep;60(9):1984-1992. doi: 10.1111/epi.16311. Epub 2019 Aug 13.
The potential impact of epilepsy on sexual function is important for patient welfare, but often neglected. This study explored the occurrences of different sexual problems in patients with both well-controlled and mostly refractory epilepsy, and compared these with equivalent information from the general population.
Between 2015 and 2017, a total of 221 adult inpatients and outpatients, mostly with intractable epilepsy, at the National Centre for Epilepsy in Norway, and 78 outpatients with well-controlled epilepsy at Lillehammer hospital participated in a questionnaire survey on sexual function. Information on the individual patient's epilepsy was collected. The results were compared with equivalent data on sexual function from 1671 adult Norwegians in the general population.
Patients with epilepsy reported a significantly higher frequency of problems with orgasm, dyspareunia, erectile dysfunction, and feelings of sexual deviance. However, reduced sexual desire, premature ejaculation/climax, and vaginal dryness occurred at similar frequencies in the general population. After controlling for gender, we found no significant association between sexual problems and seizure control or use of enzyme-inducing antiepileptic drugs. In both genders, feelings of sexual deviance were associated with lower quality of life. Fewer patients with epilepsy were satisfied with their sex lives. The perception of sex as an important part of daily life was similar among women with epilepsy and women from the general population, whereas significantly fewer men with epilepsy than men in the general population reported that sex was an important part of their daily lives. Women with mostly refractory epilepsy reported asking for help with their sexual problems significantly more often than women in the other groups.
Some sexual problems occur significantly more often in patients with epilepsy than in the general population and feelings of sexual deviancy occur more frequently. No epilepsy-related factors could be identified as specific predictors.
癫痫对性功能的潜在影响对患者的福祉很重要，但往往被忽视。本研究探讨了控制良好和多数耐药性癫痫患者不同性问题的发生情况，并将这些情况与一般人群的等效信息进行了比较。
2015 年至 2017 年，挪威国家癫痫中心的 221 名成年住院和门诊患者，主要为耐药性癫痫患者，以及 Lillehammer 医院的 78 名控制良好的癫痫患者参加了一项关于性功能的问卷调查。收集了患者的个人癫痫信息。结果与一般人群中 1671 名挪威成年人的等效性功能数据进行了比较。
癫痫患者报告的性高潮、性交疼痛、勃起功能障碍和性偏离感问题的频率明显更高。然而，在一般人群中，性欲降低、早泄/高潮和阴道干燥的发生率相似。在控制性别后，我们发现性问题与癫痫控制或使用酶诱导抗癫痫药物之间没有显著关联。在两性中，性偏离感与生活质量降低有关。癫痫患者对性生活的满意度较低。癫痫患者中认为性是日常生活重要组成部分的比例与一般人群中的女性相似，而癫痫男性中认为性是日常生活重要组成部分的比例明显低于一般人群中的男性。大多数耐药性癫痫女性报告说，她们比其他组的女性更频繁地寻求帮助解决性问题。
一些性问题在癫痫患者中比在一般人群中更常见，性偏离感更频繁。没有发现与癫痫相关的因素可以作为特定的预测因素。
