Sexual dysfunction in women with interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome: A case-control study
Amit Agrawal, Susanta Tripathy, Deepak Kumar
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) is a chronic debilitating illness characterized by urinary frequency, urgency, and pelvic pain. IC/BPS adversely affects the sexual well-being of the patients. We used the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) to compare sexual dysfunction (FSD) in women with IC/BPS versus controls in an Indian cohort where such data is lacking. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This case-control study was designed to compare the FSDs in patients with IC/BPS to that of asymptomatic controls. Pelvic Pain and Urgency/Frequency (PUF) Questionnaire scores and FSFI scores were used as tools for this study. RESULTS: < 0.05) and individually in all domains of sexual function. Twenty-nine (90.62%) patients of the IC/BPS group had FSD as compared to 12 (37.5%) of patients in the control group. Pain was the most common presenting complaint and was seen in 65.25% of patients in the IC/BPS group as compared to only 31.25% of patients in the control group. CONCLUSION: The results of our study show that women with IC/BPS have more pain and sexual dysfunction than controls.