Rates of Return to Sexual Activity Are High in Patients Undergoing Hip Arthroscopy and Occurs Within 6 Weeks Postoperatively in Most Patients: A Systematic Review.

Purpose: To provide an aggregate review of literature on (1) outcomes related to the quality of intercourse (frequency, postoperative pain during intercourse, postoperative sexual dysfunction) after hip arthroscopy and (2) patient-reported outcomes regarding postoperative sexual function after hip arthroscopy.

Methods: This systematic review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. PubMed, Cochrane Controlled Register of Trials (CENTRAL), and Scopus were queried in March 2024. Studies were included if they reported qualitative or quantitative outcomes of sexual function after hip arthroscopy. Articles reporting nerve-related complications without mention of sexual function were excluded. Statistical significance was defined as P < .05.

Results: Five studies reporting on 3,025 patients (1,899 [62.8%] women, 1,126 [37.2%] males) were included. The mean age ranged from 34 to 35.3 years, and mean follow-up periods ranged from 12 to 43 months. Two studies reported 98% and 95% of patients returning to sexual activity postoperatively. One study reported that the mean time for patients to resume sexual activity was 29.2 days, while another reported a median time of 6 weeks. One study reported significant improvements between mean preoperative and postoperative patient-reported outcomes in men using the International Erectile Function Score (20.3-21.9, P < .001) and women using the Female Sexual Function Scale (21.6-23.0, P < .001). Another study reported significant improvement in median patient scores for the Sexual Activity Question of the International Hip Outcome Tool-12 (35-70, P < .001). However, 3 studies reported residual pain related to intercourse after hip arthroscopy.

Conclusions: The reviewed literature showed that hip arthroscopy is associated with high rates of resumption of sexual activity within 4 to 6 weeks postoperatively, with significant improvement in sexual activity-related patient-reported outcomes. However, patients may expect some residual pain related to sexual function after surgery.

Study design: Level IV, systematic review of Level III and Level IV studies.