Bariatric surgery helps boost sexual function in women

Washington – Women who underwent bariatric surgery found that significant improvements in overall sexual function, a new study has found.

Lead author David Sarwer, PhD, professor of Psychology in Psychiatry and Surgery in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, said that for many people, sex is an important part of quality of life. The massive weight losses typically seen following bariatric surgery are associated with significant improvements in quality of life.

Researchers followed 106 women with an average Body Mass Index of 44.5 who underwent bariatric surgery (85 had gastric bypass and 21 had gastric banding procedures).

Following surgery, the women lost an average of 32.7 percent of their original body weight after the first year, and 33.5 percent at the end of the second year.

Two years after surgery, women reported significant improvements across all categories of sexual function, sex hormones and quality of life.

Improvements were seen in overall sexual function as well as specific areas of sexual function including desire, arousal, lubrication, and overall satisfaction.

There were significant improvements in all hormone levels of interest, which may impact both sexual behavior as well as fertility. While the study did not look directly at the correlation between surgically induced weight loss and reproductive status, they did find indirect evidence that there may be a potential impact, based on improvements in fertility-related hormone levels.

The new study has been published in the JAMA Surgery.