Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, England; Centre for Preventive Neurology, Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London, England.
Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, England.
Mult Scler Relat Disord. 2024 Sep;89:105767. doi: 10.1016/j.msard.2024.105767. Epub 2024 Jul 9.
Sexual dysfunction (SD) is a common and distressing symptom for people living with multiple sclerosis (MS). Populations included in existing studies of SD may not fully reflect the diversity of people living with MS, with important implications for wider applicability. We aimed to evaluate reporting of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, and ethnicity across studies of SD in MS.
A systematic search of four databases was performed. Two independent authors evaluated all papers. Reporting of sex and gender identity, sexual orientation, and ethnicity were recorded.
A total of 419 papers were reviewed, and 204 studies with 77,902 participants met the criteria for evaluation. Of 204 studies, 98 (48.0%) included both male and female participants; 78 (38.2%) included females only, and 27 (13.2%) males only. In 19 (9.3%) studies, participants were asked their gender. No studies reported asking a two-step question on sex and gender identity. No studies reported including non-binary patients or gender identities other than male or female. No studies reported including intersex patients. Only 10 (4.9%) studies reported the inclusion of homosexual or bisexual participants, or participants from other sexual minority groups. The overwhelming majority of studies (181; 88.7%) did not report ethnicity or race of participants.
Sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, and ethnicity are poorly reported in studies on SD in MS. These variables must be adequately evaluated to ensure research applies across diverse MS patient populations.
性障碍（SD）是多发性硬化症（MS）患者常见且令人痛苦的症状。现有 SD 研究中纳入的人群可能无法完全反映 MS 患者的多样性，这对更广泛的适用性有重要影响。我们旨在评估 MS 中 SD 研究中对性别、性别认同、性取向和种族的报告情况。
对四个数据库进行了系统搜索。两位独立作者评估了所有论文。记录了性别和性别认同、性取向和种族的报告情况。
共审查了 419 篇论文，204 项研究，涉及 77902 名参与者，符合评估标准。在 204 项研究中，98 项（48.0%）研究同时纳入男性和女性参与者；78 项（38.2%）研究仅纳入女性参与者，27 项（13.2%）研究仅纳入男性参与者。在 19 项（9.3%）研究中，研究人员询问了参与者的性别。没有研究报告询问关于性别和性别认同的两步问题。没有研究报告包括非二进制患者或除男性或女性以外的其他性别认同。没有研究报告包括间性患者。只有 10 项（4.9%）研究报告了包括同性恋或双性恋参与者，或来自其他性少数群体的参与者。绝大多数研究（181 项；88.7%）未报告参与者的种族或民族。
多发性硬化症患者性障碍研究中对性别、性别认同、性取向和种族的报告情况较差。这些变量必须得到充分评估，以确保研究适用于不同的多发性硬化症患者群体。
