Effect of sexual dysfunction on women's preference for delivery methods: a social media-based survey

Abstract

Background: Although vaginal delivery (VD) is the natural and preferred mode of delivery, cesarean section (C/S) deliveries increased disproportionately during the last decades. We hypothesized that women's preference of a mode of delivery may have a relationship with their sexual dysfunction. Methods: This survey study recruited women who had already had VD or C/S. We evaluated sexual function via the Golombok-Rust Inventory of Sexual Satisfaction (GRISS) and examined the relationship between possible sexual dysfunction and previous preference for delivery mode. Participants were enrolled from among the author's Instagram followers. Results: Overall, 190 women were included in the analysis. The median age was 30 years (range:19–45 years). While 86 participants (45.3%) had VD, 104 participants (54.7%) underwent C/S. Overall and subscale GRISS scores were similar in both groups. We also compared the responses to the 28 questions of the GRISS inventory. No significant difference was found between the groups except for question 11 about the vaginal discomfort felt when a finger is inserted. Patients who had VD were less likely to insert their fingers into their vagina without discomfort. Conclusions: With a novel social media recruitment method, we showed that sexual dysfunction was not related to the mode of delivery among participant women. However, we found that patients who had VD were less likely to feel discomfort when they insert their fingers into their vaginas.