Inflammatory bowel disease is associated with worse sexual function: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND

Several studies report that sexuality is often affected by inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). The aim of this meta-analysis was to investigate the association between IBD and sexual function.

METHODS

A literature search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, and EMBASE databases (up to September 1, 2020). Scores of sexual functions with a standard deviation and odds ratio (OR) or relative risk (RR) with a 95% CI were used to analysis the association between IBD and sexual function.

RESULTS

Eleven studies with 7,018 male IBD cases and 1,803 female IBD cases were included in the meta-analysis. In male individuals, the pooled results revealed that IBD was significantly associated with impaired erectile function and poor sexual satisfaction (RR for erectile function =1.50, 95% CI: 1.22 to 1.84, P<0.0001; standard mean difference for sexual satisfaction =-0.24, 95% CI: -0.33 to -0.15, P<0.0001). And among female individuals, IBD had impact on most sub-domains of sexual function, except pains.

CONCLUSIONS

IBD is associated with worse sexual function. It has significant impact on erectile function and satisfaction for male individuals and has impact on most sub-domains of sexual function for female individuals.