Effect of mode of delivery on couples’ sexual relationship during the postpartum period

Abstract

Background: Although, sexual function is important in married couples’ relationship, little is known about the intersexual relationship especially after delivery.Objective: This is a cross-sectional study which aimed to assess and compare the impact of mode of delivery on sexual function of married couples and explore their sexual relationship after delivery.Patients and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study which enrolled 400 couples during the postpartum period and were equally divided according to the mode of delivery into two groups: group I (200) included women who had a cesarean section and group II (200) had women who had vaginal delivery (VD) and their husbands. Each group was equally subdivided according to the number of deliveries (multiparous=100 and nulliparous=100).Sexual functions of men and women were assessed according to the female sexual function index and international index of erectile function15 questionnaires, respectively.  Results: Couples in the cesarean section group showed better sexual functions than in the VD group with a correlation between international index of erectile function and female sexual function index domains.Conclusion: VD, episiotomy, and multipara negatively affect female and male sexual domains.