Women's Sexual Problems After Childbirth

This study was aimed to investigate the impact of childbirth on the sexual health of primiparous women in China, understand the incidence of women's sexual problems after childbirth, common types and identify factors associated with dyspareunia. We inquired all primiparous women (n=798) delivering of a live birth at the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University between November 1,2000 and July 31, 2001. It was a cross-sectional study using obstetric records and postal questionnaire survey by outpatient consultation six months after delivery.The results showed as follows:1. Seven hundred and fifty three women at six months after their delivery were informed to participate postal follow-up by telephones or mailings. Four hundred and sixty of them returned to have interview and complete the postal questionnaire.The response rate was 57.64%. 2.Of the 460 respondents, 94.74% had resumed sexual activity within six months of the birth. Sexual morbidity increased significantly after the birth: in the first three months after delivery, 70.5% of women experienced sexual problems, declining to 55.63% between three months and six months and 34.17% at six months, although not reaching pre-pregnancy levels of 7.17%. 3 .The main changes for postnatal women emerged: there was generally a decrease in the woman's sexual desire, the frequency of sexual intercourse, the satisfactory degree to the frequency of sexual intercourse and the woman's active rate. Dyspareunia and lack of vaginal lubrication were common experiences for postnatal women and dyspareunia was the most common type. Sixty one point seven six percent had experienced dyspareunia in the first three months after birth and 13.21% at six months. 4.At six months after delivery dyspareunia was significantly associated with the effect of traditional concept, experience of dyspareunia before pregnancy, and current breastfeeding. The association with types of delivery was not significant. 5.The association of sexual health after childbirth with delivery typies was not significant between three months and six months in the satisfactory degree to sexual intercourse ,the woman's sexual desire, the woman's active rate ,the incidence of dyspareunia and pubococcygeal mucle. 6.Only 20.8% of women received information about sexual health, rates of consultation for problems with sexual intercourse were 8.0% .Only 59.2% of partners whose wives had postnatal sexual problem(s) knew that their wives had ever experienced sexual problem(s) and 8.1% of partners had sought help.Conclusion: 1.Sexual health problems were very common after childbirth, suggesting potentially high levels of unmet need which postnatal care services do not currently address. 2. We also found that sexual health was not significantly associated with delivery typies. This founding contribute to the debate about provision ofelective caesarean section at the request of the woman, as sexual health is often cited as a reason why women might opt for this mode of delivery.3. The current practice of encouraging the husband's supporting after the birth may well influence postnatal sexuality. 4. This study provided important data for inquiring into the relationship of childbirth and sexual health and established the foundation for its further study.