Delaying reproductive surgeries due to pandemic severely compromises personal life

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused the postponement of several sexual and reproductive health surgeries, which in turn leads to severe restrictions in the patients’ private lives and aggravates their worries about their disease, a recent study has found.

Seventy-seven postponed surgeries were assessed, all of which were elective sexual or reproductive health procedures. By the time of the study, 39 patients had already undergone surgery while 38 were still on the waitlist. A 14-item questionnaire was administered at the time of the operation to assess their perception of the pandemic, the impacts of procedure postponement, and other relevant questions.

Preoperative assessments revealed that postponing surgery caused severe restrictions in their private lives, scoring a mean of 4.1 points on a 5-point Likert scale. Postponement also amplified their worries about their disease (mean, 3.6 points). In addition, patients who ultimately were able to undergo surgery indicated that they did not want to reconsider the necessity of their operation (mean, 1.7), nor did they want to delay the procedure any further (mean, 1.7).

One of the most pressing concerns of patients was sexual intercourse. Indeed, of the 39 patients who were able to receive surgery, 51.3 percent could not have performed penetrative intercourse otherwise.

Moreover, patients who were unable to have intercourse wanted to receive their procedures more urgently (p=0.001) and reported experiencing more restrictions in their personal lives (p=0.007). Inability to perform penetrative sex also correlated with having more concerns (p<0.001) and worries (p=0.001) regarding their disease.