Chronic breathlessness affects every part of a person’s life – including their sex life, with people experiencing breathlessness saying they have greatly reduced satisfaction with their overall sexual life.
This is according to a study – ‘Associations between breathlessness and individuals’ satisfaction with sexual life: a nationally representative internet survey’ by Max Olsson, Jacob Sandberg, Slavica Kochovska, Sungwon Chang, Diana Ferreira, Steven Pantilat, Magnus Ekström and David Currow – that was published in BMJ Open Respiratory Research.
The gist: the often-underplayed condition of chronic breathlessness can not only affect people’s physical condition but also limit their enjoyment of such intimacies as sex.
Lead author Currow says up to one in 100 persons is housebound or struggles with tasks such as dressing or undressing because of chronic breathlessness.
This chronic symptom is experienced by 4% to 10% of the general population in high-income countries, with higher rates in low-resource countries and 25% of the middle-aged population, and rising proportions in older populations, yet its significance is not widely discussed.
“This is a significant problem because chronic breathlessness is largely invisible, even to close family members,” says Currow. “People give up doing many everyday things to avoid breathlessness and their worlds shrink.”
The researchers, including international experts in Sweden and the US, and the University of Technology Sydney in Australia, evaluated associations between breathlessness and individuals’ perceived satisfaction with sexual lives and explored mediating factors in this relationship.
A cross-sectional, online, population-based survey of more than 10,000 Australian adults, of which 52% were women (average age 45), had 42% report they were very dissatisfied with their overall sexual life. Nine percent of all people reported that breathlessness had impacted their overall sexual life.
People with chronic breathlessness were one and one-half times more likely to report that they were not satisfied with their sexual lives – having controlled for age, sex and body mass index.
“Increasing breathlessness severity is associated with the likelihood of a person’s overall sexual life being impacted negatively,” says Currow. “The high prevalence rates of dissatisfaction with overall sexual life and perceived impacts for people with chronic breathlessness align with high rates of sexual dissatisfaction and impacts on sexual health reported by people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and poorer physical fitness.”
Early identification of sexual health concerns and associated psychological distress can guide timely interventions, including counselling, pulmonary rehabilitation and practical strategies for intimacy.
“The interplay between a person’s perceived satisfaction with their sexual life and a range of social and health factors is complicated,” explains Professor Currow.
“A wide variety of factors may underpin satisfaction with a person’s sexual life – such as hormonal, physical, physiological and psycho-social influences – any of which may be compromised in people with chronic breathlessness.”
The study also indicates an indirect relationship between breathlessness and perceptions related to overall sexual life potentially mediated by emotional functioning, something not found for physical nor social functioning.
