Effect of an 8-Week Tailored Physiotherapy Program on Sexual Health in Women with Scleroderma and Myositis: A Controlled Pilot Study

Overview

Journal Rheumatol Ther

Specialty Rehabilitation Medicine

Date 2023 May 23

PMID 37221419

Authors

Barbora Hermankova

Maja Spiritovic

Sabina Oreska

Hana Storkanova

Herman Mann

Karel Pavelka

Ladislav Senolt

Jiri Vencovsky

Radim Becvar

Michal Tomcik

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Introduction: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) and idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are very rare rheumatic diseases burdened by a high prevalence of sexual dysfunctions. However, no specific treatment has been proposed to date. To our knowledge, this is the first (pilot) study aiming to investigate the effect of an 8-week tailored physiotherapy program on the sexual health of women with SSc and IIM.

Methods: In total, 12 women with SSc and 4 women with IIM were enrolled in the study. Based on the patients' capability to participate in the program, they were divided into an intervention group (IG) (mean ± SD age 46.8 ± 8.6 years) and a control group (CG) (mean ± SD age 46.3 ± 8.5 years). IG underwent the 8-week program (1 h of supervised physiotherapy twice weekly), whereas CG received no physiotherapy. At weeks 0 and 8, all patients filled in questionnaires assessing sexual function (Female Sexual Function Index [FSFI], Brief Index of Sexual Functioning for Women [BISF-W]), sexual quality of life (Sexual Quality of Life-Female [SQoL-F]), functional ability (Health Assessment Questionnaire [HAQ]), quality of life (Medical Outcomes Short Form-36 [SF-36]), and depression (Beck's Depression Inventory-II [BDI-II]). The changes were analyzed with two-way ANOVA and Friedmann's test.

Results: Compared to the statistically significant deterioration in CG over weeks 0-8, we found statistically significant improvements in the total scores of FSFI and BISF-W, and some of their domains, functional status, and the physical component of quality of life.

Conclusion: Our 8-week physiotherapy program not only prevented the natural course of progressive deterioration of functional ability but also led to a significant improvement in sexual function and quality of life in women with SSc and IIM. However, due to the lack of randomization and a relatively small sample size resulting from the strict inclusion criteria, further validation of our results is needed.

Trial Registration Number: ISRCTN91200867 (prospectively registered).

Citing Articles

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PMID: 39696506 PMC: 11657302. DOI: 10.1186/s12955-024-02324-0.

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