Sexual Function during the Postpartum Period
Wisit Woranitat MD*, Surasak Taneepanichskul MD*
Affiliation : * Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Chulalongkorn University
Objective : To study the characteristics of sexual function during the postpartum period.
Study
Design : Cross-sectional descriptive study.
Materials and Methods : From May 2006 to July 2006. Eighty women, who attended the family planning clinic
at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, were enrolled in the present study. All subjects were interviewed
by the investigators with a questionnaire about general characteristic and Female Sexual Function Index
questionnaire (FSFI) to determine their sexual function.
Results : Twenty-eight (35%) women had sexual intercourse within the six weeks postpartum period before
they attended the family planning clinic. In this group, 18 women (35%) had vaginal deliveries and 10 women
(34.5%) had cesarean deliveries. No statistically significant difference was demonstrated in terms of route of
delivery (X2 = 0.005, p-value = 0.57). Women without episiotomy resumed sexual intercourse more than
women with episiotomy (66.7% and 25.6%, X2 = 6.76, p-value = 0.015). There was no association between
route of delivery and sexual function including sexual desire, sexual arousal, sexual lubrication, sexual
orgasm, satisfaction, pain, and FSFI score.
Conclusion : Resumption of sexual intercourse in the postpartum period was quite high. However, route of
delivery was not associated with resumption of sexual intercourse and female sexual function in postpartum
period. More women without episiotomy had resumption of sexual intercourse than the others. Sexual demand
of the partner is the influencing factor to resumption of sexual intercourse during the post partum period.
Counseling about sexuality and contraception after birth should be a regular practice in the hospital.
Keywords : Postpartum, Sexual function, Sexual intercourse
