AB0551 SEXUALITY ASSESSMENT IN LATIN AMERICAN WOMEN WITH SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS

Background The influence of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in sexual behavior has been one of the less studied areas, being a forgotten part of quality of life, and not routinely evaluated by a rheumatologist. The seeming lack of interest in sexual problems is explained by the underlying difficulty to talk about this topic, the uncertainty of the role and capability of the rheumatologist to treat any difficulties in this area. Objectives Determine the prevalence of sexual assessment in women with SLE by their rheumatologist in the daily practice, as well as their characteristics and the possible difficulties that doctors deal with during this process. Methods A cross-sectional study, where women between 18 and 60 years with SLE diagnosis (according to SLICC 2012 criteria) were evaluated consecutively at the rheumatology clinic at Hospital Universitario “Dr. Jose Eleuterio Gonzalez”. 102 women with SLE were asked two questions: “Question 1. In the last year, has your rheumatologist asked about your sexual life?”, and “Question 2. In case of having a trouble or disorder in your sexual life, would you ask your rheumatologist about it? (if not, why?)”. Demographic and disease associated variables were analyzed with Chi-square test and Mann-Whitney U test. Results Baseline characteristics according to answers to each question are shown in Table 1. Most of the patients (62.74%, n=64) denied being asked about their sexual life in the last year; in this group, the prevalence of menopause was significantly higher than in the group that had been asked about this (30% vs 11%, p=0.025). Whilst, 82% (n=89) of patients said they were willing to talk about this topic with their doctor. The patients that answered “no” to the second question had the following characteristics: older age (45.5±10.5 vs 35.0±11.2 years; p=0.002), were in their menopause (46% vs 19%; p=0.042), had fibromyalgia (39% vs 10%, p=0.015), and had children (92% vs 64%, p=0.024). When asking the reason why they wouldn’t ask, 70% (n=9) said they were ashamed to, 23% (n=3) ignored if this belonged to the rheumatologist and 7% (n=1) because of lack of time at consultation. *- p value was obtained by Chi-square test. SD – Standard deviation. Conclusion Rheumatologists rarely approach or evaluate the sexuality topic with their patients. However, in our population, patients are willing to talk about this with their doctor. Sexuality must be assessed in all patients; but special attention must be paid to women with SLE and menopause, children, fibromyalgia and/or age over 35, because they’re prone to not discuss this topic with their doctor. References [1] Perdriger A, Solano C, Gossec L. Why should rheumatologists evaluate the impact of rheumatoid arthritis on sexuality? Jt Bone Spine. 2010;77:493-495. doi:10.1016/j.jbspin.2010.07.005 [2] Tseng J-C, Lu L-Y, Hu J-C, et al. The Impact of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus on Women’s Sexual Functioning. J Sex Med. 2011. doi:10.1111/j.1743-6109.2011.02464.x Disclosure of Interests None declared