• Mohamed El Kassas, Eman Salah, Aya Gad, and Ahmed Hosny.
• Endemic Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt.
• Curr Med Res Opin. 2021 Jun 1; 37 (6): 967-972.

ObjectiveThe impact on male and female sexual dysfunction of treating hepatitis C virus (HCV) using direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) has not been sufficiently studied. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of HCV clearance with DAAs on sexual dysfunction (SD) in both sexes.MethodsIn chronic HCV patients who were eligible for DAAs, 100 sexually active men completed the Arabic version of the international index of erectile function questionnaire (IIEF-5), and the same number of sexually active women completed Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), before, at the end of, and 3 months after, treatment for HCV.ResultThe mean of the IIEF-5 scores for male patients was 16.29 ±.07 before treatment, 16.88 ± 3.63 3 months after treatment (p < .01), and was significantly higher, at 19.06 ± 3.31 6 months after treatment cessation (p < .01). In female patients, the mean total FSFI score at baseline was 19.22 ± 2.40 and after 3 months of treatment was 21.61 ± 3.45 (p < .01), with a significant increase (25.09 ± 4.52) after 6 months (p < .01). No difference in the improvement of sexual function was reported either after 3 months or at the end of treatment between males and females (p > .05).ConclusionsSignificant improvement in SD associated with HCV infection in both sexes was recorded following viral clearance using DAAs treatment.

17 keywords...

hide…