Painful sexual intercourse, quality of life and sexual function in patients with endometriosis: not just deep dyspareunia

Simona Del Forno, Arianna Raspollini, Marisol Doglioli, Anna Andreotti, Emanuela Spagnolo, Jacopo Lenzi, Giulia Borghese, Diego Raimondo, Alessandro Arena, Elena Rodríguez González, Elena Rodriguez, Alicia Hernández, Alicia Hernandez, Francesca Govoni, Renato Seracchioli
Archives of gynecology and obstetrics · 2024 · vol. 310(4) , pp. 2091–2100 · doi:10.1007/s00404-024-07643-7 · PMID:39052076 · PMC11392973 · W4400987243
article OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 5 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This study found that dyspareunia is common in endometriosis patients, with concomitant deep and superficial dyspareunia significantly impacting quality of life and sexual function.

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Abstract

PURPOSE: To evaluate the prevalence of deep and superficial dyspareunia in women with diagnosis of endometriosis. Secondly, to assess the temporal relation between deep and superficial dyspareunia in women reporting both symptoms (concomitant dyspareunia) and the impact on quality of life (QoL) and sexual function. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional cohort study that included fertile women with diagnosis of endometriosis. Enrolled subjects reported pain symptoms including dyspareunia and its temporal onset and completed two one-time validated questionnaires regarding sexual function (Female Sexual Function Index) and QoL (International QoL Assessment SF-36). RESULTS: Among the 334 enrolled patients, 75.7% (95%) reported dyspareunia. Women were divided into four groups according to the presence and type of dyspareunia: isolated superficial dyspareunia (6.3%), isolated deep dyspareunia (26.0%), concomitant dyspareunia (43.4%) and no dyspareunia (24.3%). Women with concomitant dyspareunia reported higher NRS scores than women with isolated dyspareunia or no dyspareunia (P ≤ 0.001). The majority of women with concomitant dyspareunia (56.6%) reported that deep dyspareunia developed before superficial dyspareunia. Women with concomitant dyspareunia reported worse QoL and worse sexual function than women with isolated dyspareunia or without dyspareunia (P ≤ 0.001). CONCLUSION: Dyspareunia is a common symptom in women with endometriosis, with many reporting concomitant deep and superficial dyspareunia. Concomitant dyspareunia can significantly impact sexual function and quality of life (QoL). Therefore, it is crucial to investigate dyspareunia thoroughly and differentiate between its types to tailor effective therapeutic strategies.

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Outcome instruments

NRS-pain

Condition tags

dyspareuniaendometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Coitus Coitus Coitus Coitus Coitus Coitus Coitus Coitus Coitus Dyspareunia Dyspareunia Dyspareunia Dyspareunia Dyspareunia Dyspareunia Dyspareunia Dyspareunia Dyspareunia Dyspareunia Dyspareunia

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (47)

Cited by (5)

Source provenance

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