4   Secondary 61 28.2   Higher 16 7.4 Employment         Housewife   85.6   Employed 31 14.4 Clinical status       Disease stage         I       II 91 42.1   III 39 18.1   Unknown 54 25.0 Surgery         Conservative       Mastectomy 156 72.2 Chemotherapy         Yes 200 92.6   No 16 7.4 Radiotherapy         Yes 187 86.6   No 29 13.4 Endocrine therapy         Yes 162 75.0   No 54 25.0 Sexual status       Age at marriage         Mean (SD) 19.1 (4.2) – Age at first intercourse         Mean (SD) 19.3 (4.2)   Intercourse

per week         1-2 times 196 90.7   3-4 times www.selleckchem.com/products/BIBW2992.html 17 7.9   > 4 times 3 1.4 Time interval between pre- and post-treatment evaluations (months) Mean (SD) 9.1 (1.06)   The mean score of patients on the FSFI at pre-and post-treatment was 26.6 (SD = 4.26) and 22.1 (SD = 5.89) respectively

indicating a significant Selleck BMS202 deterioration in sexual function among the study sample at post-treatment (P < 0.0001). At post-treatment assessment scores for sexual desire and lubrication showed greater decrease compared to other domains. The findings indicated that 52% of breast click here cancer patients at pre-treatment and 84% at post-treatment were suffering from poor sexual function. The results are shown in Table 2. Table 2 Pre- and post-treatment sexual functioning in breast cancer patients as measured by the Female Sexual Function Index-FSFI (higher scores indicate a better function, n = 216)   Pre-treatment Post-treatment       Mean (SD) Mean (SD) Effect size P* FSFI domains Sexual desire 3.8 (0.97) 2.8 (1.13) 0.95 < 0.001 Arousal 4.1(1.25) 3.2 (1.45) 0.66 < 0.001 Lubrication 5.3(1.01) 4.3 (1.48) 0.79 < 0.001 Orgasm 4.8(1.17) 4.0 (1.47) 0.60 < 0.001 Satisfaction 3.3(1.47) 3.0 (1.26) 0.22 < 0.001 Pain 5.2(1.19) 4.5 (1.63) 0.49 < 0.001 Total FSFI score 26.6

(4.26) 22.1 (5.89) 0.87 < 0.001 Range 7.2-34.2 2.8-32.9 - - Sexual disorder† Number (%) Number (%)   < 0.0001¶ No 103 (48) 34 (16)     Yes 113 (52) 182 (84) - - * Lck Derived from paired t-test. † According to cut-off point score for Iranian females [16]. ¶ Derived from Chi-square test. The results obtained from multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that the most significant contributing factors to sexual disorder at post-treatment were younger age [OR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.93-0.98; P = 0.04], receiving endocrine treatment [OR = 3.34, 95% CI = 1.38-8.06; P = 0.007], and poorer sexual dysfunction at pre-treatment [OR = 12.3, 95% CI = 3.93-39.0; P < 0.0001]. Other variables in the model did not show any significant results. Table 3 presents the findings. Table 3 The results obtained from logistic regression indicating factors predicting sexual dysfunction at post treatment in breast cancer patients (n = 216)   OR (95% CI)* P OR (95% CI)** P Age 0.96 (0.94-0.99) 0.05 0.95 (0.93-0.98) 0.04 Education         Illiterate 1.0 (ref.)   1.0 (ref.)   Primary 1.61 (0.56-4.61) 0.36 1.32 (0.36-4.80) 0.66 Secondary/higher 1.47 (0.49-4.40) 0.48 1.28 (0.32-5.01) 0.72 Employment         Housewife 1.0 (ref.