Sexuality of Women with Rheumatoid Arthritis in a West African Hospital

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes socio-economic, psychological and sexual problems. It imposes limitations on sexual relationships and these issues are still taboo in African society. Objective: The objective is to assess the impact of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on women’s sexuality at the Ignace Deen National Hospital. Patients and Methods: This was an analytic case-control study of 8 months (from April 6, 2020 to December 11, 2020). All patients followed for rheumatoid arthritis diagnosed according to 2010 ACR/EULAR criteria for RA had been included. Results: One hundred and five women (52 RA patients and 53 controls) were collected. The two groups were comparable in terms of demographic characteristics. Sexual dysfunction was found in 69.2% of cases versus 35.8% of controls. Women with RA had poorer sexual functioning in the categories of desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain of the FSFI score compared to healthy women (p = 0.01;p = 0.7;p = 0.3;p = 0.8;p = 0.1;and p = 0.3 respectively). Patients were 4 times more likely to have sexual dysfunction than healthy individuals and this result was statistically significant with a p-value less than 0.05. Conclusion: Sexual dysfunction was noted in a large number of RA patients surveyed at the rheumatology department of the Ignace Deen national hospital. A larger study is needed to better assess this issue and seek management solutions.