Sexual Functioning in Adolescents and Young Adults With Spina Bifida
Abstract
Cardenas DD, Topolski TD, White CJ, McLaughlin JF, Walker WO. Sexual functioning in adolescents and young adults with spina bifida.
Objective
To assess sexual education and sexual functioning in adolescents and young adults with spina bifida.
Design
Survey, inception cohort.
Setting
The community.
Participants
A cohort of adolescents and young adults (N=121; range, 15–35y; 58% women) enrolled in a longitudinal pediatric database.
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
Questions on sexual function, reproductive function, bladder and bowel continence, the Perceived Quality of Life Scale, and the Satisfaction With Life Scale.
Results
Almost all adolescents and young adults with spina bifida in our study received sexual education at school, less at home, or by physicians. Twenty-five percent of men and 68% of women were informed about reproductive function by their physicians. Participants who reported that they smoked were 10 times more likely to report being sexually active and women were 2.3 times more likely to be sexually active than men. Hydrocephalus was a significant predictor of sexual activity among women but not men. Participants with urinary incontinence were less likely to be sexually active. Women without hydrocephalus were significantly more satisfied with life than women with hydrocephalus.
Conclusions
Adolescents and young adults with spina bifida in this sample were only slightly satisfied with life and sexual activity was only associated with life satisfaction among women. Dissatisfaction with life often leads to engagement in health-risk behaviors, which may, in part, account for the association between sexual activity and smoking behavior observed in these data. Further studies of health risk behaviors among youth with spina bifida are warranted and interventions aimed at reducing health risk behaviors among adolescents and young adults should specifically include spina bifida as a target group.
aDepartment of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
bDepartment of Health Services, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
cDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
Reprint requests to Diana D. Cardenas, MD, MHA, Dept of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, 1120 NW 14th St, Rm 958, C-206, Miami, FL 33136
Supported by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities Cooperative Agreement (grant no. RT01 2003-03-02) in cooperation with the Association of University Centers on Disabilities.
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the authors or upon any organization with which the author(s) is/are associated.
ABSTRACT