Psychological and Medical Aspects of Sexuality Following Stroke

The study was aimed at investigation of the sexual life after stroke. One-hundred-thirty-nine consecutive stroke patients admitted to our rehabilitation units were interviewed. They suffered from stroke one month before. Among these, 86 subjects could be enrolled for the study. After one year, 57 men (79.2%) and 15 women (20.8%) could be interviewed again about their sexual life. Their mean age was 63.7 years (s.d. 8.4). At this time Beck scale for depression to non-aphasic patients and Functional Independence Measure (FIM) scale were also applied. We confirmed the sexual decline in the aftermath of the stroke. At individual level, the mean decline was about 34% in the frequency of performance, but the percentage of patients experiencing a decline was quite high (83.3%). Neither gender nor injured hemisphere accounted for the sexual decline. Lack of correlation was also found with age, education, disability and depression. Our data agree with the opinion that psychological issues, rather than medical ones, account for disruption of sexual functioning in stroke survivors.