Individuals with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) often have impaired sexual function (SF), specifically PsA patients who are women, elderly, and with low income. The findings were reported in Clinical Rheumatology.
According to the researchers, PsA, “it is associated with depressive syndrome (DS), cardiovascular disease, hypertension (HT), diabetes mellitus (DM), obesity and psoriasis (Pso). However, they noted that: “There are few studies aimed to analyze the association of the involvement of the musculoskeletal system with (SF).”
In this cross-sectional, observational study, researchers evaluated 72 patients diagnosed with PsA. They subsequently assessed SF using the following self-administered validated questionnaires: MGH-SFQ and CSFQ-14, which analyzes the 4 domains of sexual function; Qualisex and DLQI which they noted is designed for joint and dermatological pathology respectively, exploring sexual aspects. “The objective was to describe the existence of altered sexual function in patients with PsA; analyze the association between sociodemographic characteristics, comorbidities (Pso, DS, cardiovascular risk factors) and the treatments of patients on SF; and describe differences of SF according to gender,” the researchers said.
According to the results, patients with worse SF scores tended with be women, patients of advanced age, those with lower annual incomes, and those with depression. “Patients with PsA had impaired SF, especially women, elder patients, those with low annual incomes, DL and emotional disorders,” the researchers concluded.
