Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34446376›Full record

Trial reportThe journal of sexual medicine2021

Correspondence Between Clinician Ratings of Vulvovaginal Health and Patient-Reported Sexual Function After Cancer.

Kathryn E Flynn, Li Lin, Jeanne Carter, Raymond E Baser, Shari Goldfarb, Sally Saban, Kevin P Weinfurt

Open access · greenAbstract readClinical Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in The journal of sexual medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
0.8field-weighted citation impact, top 30% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Kathryn E FlynnDepartment of Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA. Electronic address: kflynn@mcw.edu.
Li LinDuke Clinical Research Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA; Department of Population Health Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
Jeanne CarterDepartment of Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, NY, USA.
Raymond E BaserDepartment of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, NY, USA.
Shari GoldfarbDepartment of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, NY, USA; Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, NY, USA.
Sally SabanDepartment of Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, NY, USA.
Kevin P WeinfurtDuke Clinical Research Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA; Department of Population Health Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center · USClinical Research Institute · USDuke University · USMedical College of Wisconsin · US

Funding

X-RAY CRYSTALLOGRAPHYP30CA008748 · NCI · SLOAN-KETTERING INSTITUTE FOR CANCER RES · PI Hongbiao Carl Lekaye · 1985 to 2026
$347.4M
NCI NIH HHS P30 CA008748
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundTools for diagnosing sexual dysfunction and for tracking outcomes of interest include clinician interviews, physical exam, and patient self-report. Limited work has described relationships among these three sources of information regarding female sexual dysfunction and vulvovaginal health.

aimWe describe correlations among data collected from clinician interviews, clinical gynecological examination, and patient self-report.

methodsData are from a single-site, single-arm, prospective trial in 100 postmenopausal patients with a history of breast or endometrial cancer who sought treatment for vulvovaginal symptoms. The trial collected a standardized clinical gynecologic exam, clinician-reported outcome (ClinRO) measures of vulvovaginal dryness and pain, and patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures of sexual function, including PROMIS Sexual Function and Satisfaction (SexFS) lubrication, vaginal discomfort, labial discomfort, and clitoral discomfort and Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) lubrication and pain. We examined polyserial correlations between measures with bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals from the baseline and 12-14-week timepoints.

resultsAll of the relationships between the ClinRO variables and the PRO variables were in the expected direction (ie, positive), but the strength of the relationships varied substantially. At 12-14 weeks, there were medium-to-large correlations between ClinRO vaginal dryness and SexFS Lubrication (0.64), ClinRO vulvar dryness and SexFS Lubrication (0.46), ClinRO vulvar discomfort and SexFS Labial Discomfort (0.70), and ClinRO vulvar discomfort and SexFS Clitoral Discomfort (0.43). With one exception, the correlations between the exam variables and the corresponding PRO scores were small (range 0.01-0.27). STRENGTHS & LIMITATIONS: Our study included a comprehensive, standardized gynecologic exam designed specifically to evaluate sexual dysfunction as well as established PRO measures with significant evidence for validity. A limitation of our findings is that the sample size was relatively small, and our sample was restricted to women who received cancer treatments known to have dramatic effects on vulvovaginal tissue quality.

conclusionPatient- and clinician-reported vulvovaginal dryness and discomfort were moderately correlated with each other but not with clinical gynecologic exam findings. Understanding the relationships among these different types of data highlights the distinct contributions of each to understand vulvovaginal tissue quality and patient sexual function after cancer. Flynn KE, Lin L, Carter J, et al. Correspondence Between Clinician Ratings of Vulvovaginal Health and Patient-Reported Sexual Function After Cancer. J Sex Med 2021;18:1768-1774.

Indexed as

NeoplasmsSexual Dysfunction, PhysiologicalVulvodyniaFemaleHumansPatient Reported Outcome MeasuresProspective StudiesSelf ReportClinical Gynecologic ExamClinician-Reported OutcomesMeasurementOutcomes ResearchPatient-Reported OutcomesQuality of Life

Identifiers

PMID34446376
PMCPMC8490328
OpenAlexW3193688357

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.