Evaluation of the Sexual Functioning of Individuals Living in Turkey During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Internet-Based Nationwide Survey Study

Abstract

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COVID-19 and Male Sexual Functioning: A report of 3 Recovered Cases and Literature Review

“…Some researchers have reported income change to accompany high distress and depression 7 and even declined sexual activity. 27 …”

“…These authors showed the low incidence of depression and anxiety in sexually active men during the lockdown, suggested the prophylactic part of dynamic sexual life concerning mental stress, and recommended using sexual functioning as a marker of psychological health during this tough time. Li et al 29 studied the impact of lockdown on men’s sexual behavior in China, while Karsiyakali et al 27 evaluated the changes in sexual activity of both genders in Turkey under COVID-19. Both studies did not use validated questionnaires like IIEF-15, PEDT, or BDI-II, as was the case in this case report.…”

“…Li et al 29 did not report a change in sexual desire, sexual frequency, or sexual satisfaction although it is now known that the status of sexual function, as reported by the patient, is mostly underestimated, giving a lower prevalence than that estimated using validated questionnaires. 30 On the other hand, Karsiyakali et al 27 showed a decline in the frequency of intercourse/masturbation and sexual desire under the COVID-19 pandemic. The reduction was meaningful in terms of tobacco smoking, living as single, love experience with the same sexual partner, infertile couples, and unemployment.…”

“…34 This coincides with other researchers who showed that sexual activity could decline in metropolitan areas more than in rural areas. 27 Besides, Egyptians now are using many social media having online social support, which has been explicitly launched to cope with the stress surrounding COVID-19. 35 After recovery, the patients reported dropped BDI-II scores with variable degrees of mood changes.…”

“…No validated Arabic version is currently available for the IIEF-15, but the Arabicspeaking patients could easily understand that questionnaire. 14 According to the scores of erectile function domain (full score = 30), erectile dysfunction (ED) may be severe ED (1-10), moderate ED (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16), mild to moderate ED (17)(18)(19)(20)(21), mild ED (22)(23)(24)(25), and no ED (26)(27)(28)(29)(30). Full scores of the other domains are 10, 10, 15, and 10, respectively.…”