Abstract

BACKGROUND Successful rehabilitation of cardiac surgery patients should include consideration of their sexual activity, but there is paucity of data regarding this matter. OBJECTIVE This study determined the incidence and type of sexual dysfunction in our patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS Two hundred-seventy nine men with age under 70 years old who had coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), valvular, or other types of cardiac surgery from Dec. 2006 until Dec. 2007 were enrolled in this descriptive-analytical study. They were interviewed before and 12 weeks after the operation in regard to the impact of surgery on their sexuality. The statistical methods used included analysis of variance, Kappa test, and chi-square analysis. RESULTS The mean age of the patients was 55.7 ± 10.66 (25-69) years. The incidence of sexual dysfunction was 20.1% before, and76.4%, 12 weeks after the operation. P-valueas tested by Kappa test was 0.0001, which means that cardiac surgery had adverse effect on sexual activity of the patients. Types of sexual dysfunction were impotence, premature ejaculation, and decreased or loss of libido in 6.5%, 4.3% and 9.3%, respectively before operation, and 34.8%, 21.5% and 20.1%, respectively 12 weeks after the operation. Concurrence of more than one dysfunction was not reported. CONCLUSION Sexual dysfunction is common after cardiac surgery, and sexual counseling is still not being addressed adequately. The role and responsibility of the physician and the rehabilitation nurse becomes evident, together with the need for the patient's partner to participate in counseling.