ArticleActa oncologica (Stockholm, Sweden)2025
Sexual health in female and male cancer survivors - compared with age-matched cancer-free controls in Norway.
Article in Acta oncologica (Stockholm, Sweden), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- The impact on sexual wellbeing after cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) for ovarian cancer treatment.Gynecologic oncology reports · 2026Article
- Navigating sexual challenges in couples post breast cancer treatment: a qualitative study.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
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Abstract
background and purposeSexual dysfunction is a common late effect of cancer reducing quality of life. This study investigated sexual health in cancer survivors shortly after diagnosis and at long-term follow-up compared to the general population.
methodsA nationwide survey stratified by sex and age was distributed to a representative sample of the Norwegian population. Of the 5,135 respondents (33% response rate), 453 were cancer survivors, and 4,682 were cancer-free controls. Time since cancer diagnosis was divided into two categories: 2 years or less (short-term) and over 2 years (long-term). Sexual health was evaluated using the EORTC questionnaires SHQ-22 and the sexual domains of the QLQ-BR23/QLQ-BR45. Multivariable linear regression analyses compared sexual health between cancer survivors and cancer-free controls, and between short- and long-term cancer survivors.
resultsCancer survivors reported significantly poorer sexual health outcomes than cancer-free controls, except for the importance of maintaining a sexually active life, rated equally important. There were minimal differences in sexual health between short-term and long-term cancer survivors. Interestingly, male cancer survivors appeared to be more affected by sexual health challenges than females, when compared to their cancer-free controls.
interpretationThis study is the first to utilize the EORTC SHQ-22 questionnaire to assess sexual health in cancer survivors and controls. Sexual health was found to be significantly worse in cancer survivors compared to age-matched controls. It is imperative to address this overlooked health issue in the follow-up programs for cancer survivors.
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