Y. Barak et al., SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION IN RELAPSING-REMITTING MULTIPLE-SCLEROSIS - MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING, CLINICAL, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CORRELATES, Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience, 21(4), 1996, pp. 255-258
The purpose of this study was to examine the sexual complaints and sev
erity of sexual dysfunction in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis
patients and to correlate them with psychological, neurological, and r
adiological variables, Frequency and characteristics of sexual disturb
ances were reported by 41 multiple sclerosis patients (32 females, 9 m
ales; mean age 35.4 +/- 10.2 y), Clinical neurologic variables tested
were disease duration, exacerbation rate, and disability; psychologica
l variables tested were anxiety and depression, All patients underwent
a brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan at the time of this stu
dy, The sexual dysfunction questionnaire included items based on the 3
phases of human sexual response: loss of libido, excitement (arousal
difficulties, impotence, premature ejaculation), and anorgasmia, Five
males (55.5%) and 16 females (50.0%) reported at least 1 sexual distur
bance. The most frequent dysfunctions were loss of libido (26.8%) and
arousal difficulties (19.5%), Females rated their difficulties as more
severe, Sexual dysfunctions correlated with depression, (r = 0.68, P
= 0.001), No correlation between MRI score and depression was found. A
norgasmia correlated with brain stem and pyramidal abnormalities (r =
0.56, P = 0.011; r = 0.56, P = 0.012, respectively), The total area of
lesions (plaques) on the brain MRI scan also correlated with anorgasm
ia (r = 0.41, P = 0.02), Sexual dysfunctions in multiple sclerosis pat
ients are frequent, are mild to moderate in severity, correlate with d
epression and in some cases central nervous system (CNS) demyelinating
process, and thus may be related either to the psychological impact o
f this disease or to specific organic lesions in the brain.