• Siril T Holmberg, Øyvind O Salvesen, Vetle Vangen-Lønne, Sozaburo Hara, Olav M Fredheim, Tore K Solberg, Asgeir S Jakola, Ole Solheim, Øystein P Nygaard, and Sasha Gulati.
• Department of Neuromedicine and Movement Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
• Spine. 2020 Dec 15; 45 (24): 1751-1757.

Study DesignObservational multicenter study.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate changes in pain during sexual activity after surgery for lumbar disc herniation (LDH).Summary Of Background DataThere are limited data available on sexual function in patients undergoing surgery for LDH.MethodsData were retrieved from the Norwegian Registry for Spine Surgery. The primary outcome was change in pain during sexual activity at one year, assessed by item number eight of the Oswestry disability index (ODI) questionnaire. Secondary outcome measures included ODI, EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D), and numeric rating scale (NRS) scores for back and leg pain.ResultsAmong the 18,529 patients included, 12,103 (64.8%) completed 1-year follow-up. At baseline, 16,729 patients (90.3%) provided information about pain during sexual activity, whereas 11,130 (92.0%) among those with complete follow-up completed this item. Preoperatively 2586 of 16,729 patients (15.5%) reported that pain did not affect sexual activity and at 1 year, 7251 of 11,130 patients (65.1%) reported a normal sex-life without pain. Preoperatively, 2483 (14.8%) patients reported that pain prevented any sex-life, compared to 190 patients (1.7%) at 1 year. At baseline, 14,143 of 16,729 patients (84.5%) reported that sexual activity caused pain, and among these 7232 of 10,509 responders (68.8%) reported an improvement at 1 year. A multivariable regression analysis showed that having a life partner, college education, working until time of surgery, undergoing emergency surgery, and increasing ODI score were predictors of improvement in pain during sexual activity. Increasing age, tobacco smoking, increasing body mass index, comorbidity, back pain >12 months, previous spine surgery, surgery in two or more lumbar levels, and complications occurring within 3 months were negative predictors.ConclusionThis study clearly demonstrates that a large proportion of patients undergoing surgery for LDH experienced an improvement in pain during sexual activity at 1 year.Level Of Evidence2.

29 keywords...

hide…