Comparisons of Depression, Sexual Function, and Quality of Life Between Women With Gynecological Cancers and Race-Matched Healthy Controls.

Background: Although higher incidence and mortality of gynecological cancer (GynCa) are documented in black compared with white women, few studies have documented quality of life (QOL) or healthy control comparisons.

Objective: This study compared depression, sexual function, and QOL between patients with GynCa and race-matched healthy controls.

Methods: Patients with GynCa and healthy controls completed the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Female Sexual Function Index, and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General measures at baseline; GynCa patients were assessed again at 6 months post-radiation therapy (RT).

Results: Analyses included 84 participants (51% white, 49% black), including 28 GynCa patients and 56 controls with similar marital status. Compared with healthy controls, patients were younger, had a higher body mass index, and had more depression (P = .01); 82% of the patients and 71% of the healthy controls met criteria for sexual dysfunction at baseline (P = .29). Patients pre-RT had greater sexual dysfunction and lower QOL (P = .001) than controls did; patients at 6-month post-RT showed improved sexual function scores compared with pre-RT, with similar results to controls. White GynCa patients reported less sexual desire (P = .02), more pain (P = .05), and lower total Female Sexual Function Index scores (P = .01) than did black GynCa patients. Both black and white GynCa patients reported lower total QOL than their race-matched controls did (P = .07 and P = .002).

Conclusions: Women with GynCa reported more depression and lower QOL than did healthy controls pre-RT. Among GynCa patients, white women had more sexual dysfunction than black women did.

Implications For Practice: The differences in sexual dysfunction between white and black women with GynCa suggest developing guidelines directing routine sexual assessment and rehabilitation in women treated for GynCa.