Dr El-Jawahri on the Effects of Sexual Health Interventions in HSCT Recipients

Areej El-Jawahri, MD, associate director, Cancer Outcomes Research and Education Program, director, Bone Marrow Transplant Survivorship Program, associate professor, medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses findings from a randomized trial investigating a multimodal intervention to enhance sexual function and quality of life (QOL) in patients who previously received hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT). 

This single center trial aimed to address issues of sexual dysfunction in survivors of allogeneic and autologous HSCT who had received transplant at least 3 months prior to enrolling in the study and had noted that they were experiencing sexual dysfunction that caused distress. Patients were randomly assigned to receive sexual health interventions (n = 64) or usual care (n = 61). Patients in the intervention arm met with a trained HSCT clinician 3 times a month to assess the causes of their sexual dysfunction, receive education to address their sexual health concerns, and implement therapeutic interventions. The primary end point was the comparison of global satisfaction with sex at 3 months between the 2 arms.

Patients who saw transplant clinicians who were trained in addressing sexual health issues experienced improved sexual health outcomes, including global satisfaction with sex (B = 4.7; P < .001), interest in sex (B = 1.3; P < .001), and sexual function, compared with patients who did not see these specialists. Furthermore, patients who were treated by clinicians trained in addressing sexual health issues had improvements in QOL (B = 12.5; P < .001), anxiety symptoms (B = –1.7; P = .003) and depression symptoms (B = –2.0; P < .001). Based on these findings, El-Jawahri notes that further research is needed to determine the extent to which the improvements in sexual health outcomes directly affected QOL and mood in this population.

Investigators observed the effects of the sexual health interventions beyond the 3-month period during which patients actively received these interventions. These patients continued to report improved sexual health, QOL, and mood, El-Jawahri concludes.