Sexual disturbances arising from multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis patients under the age of 50 with only a slight handicap were very often found to have disturbances of sexual functions (among male patients 71.4%; among female patients 73.9%; control group 18.7%). In 19.6% of the cases, the disturbances were of a serious nature. These disturbances, as well as disturbances of function of bladder and colon, were found to be mainly brought about by separate damage in the lumbosacral region of the spinal cord. The incidence of these disturbances bore no relationship to the degree of motor disturbances, age of the patient or duration of the disease.