Study: Sexual pleasure after childbirth is not affected by different types of delivery

Study: Sexual pleasure after childbirth is not affected by different types of delivery

Sexual pleasure in the years after birth is not affected by the way the baby is born, according to new research. The study, published in BJOG, was led by researchers at the University of Bristol and the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and used data from Children of the 90s - a longitudinal study of over 14,000 people.

The study sought to examine whether cesarean sections maintain sexual well-being compared to vaginal deliveries due to the lower risk of ruptures and maintenance of vaginal tone. Results from previous studies suggest little difference in sexual outcomes between women who had a cesarean section or a vaginal delivery six months postpartum. However, only a few studies had ventured into the long-term period after birth.

This latest study examined the relationship between mode of birth and sexual well-being outcomes, including sexual pleasure, sexual frequency, and sex-related pain, at various times postpartum.

Researchers evaluated women in different delivery groups up to 18 years after birth and found no difference between cesarean section and vaginal delivery in sexual pleasure or frequency at any time after birth (known as postpartum). However, it has been shown that those who delivered by cesarean section were more likely to report sex-related pain, particularly pain in the vagina during intercourse, 11 years after birth.

The study did not have access to measurements of prenatal sex-related pain for each mother, and therefore it is not known from this study whether cesarean section causes sex-related pain, as the results suggest, or whether prenatal sex-related pain predicts both cesarean section and postnatal sex-related pain.

Flo Martin, Wellcome Trust PhD student in Epidemiology at Bristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences (PHS) at the University of Bristol, and lead author of the study, said: “The number of caesarean sections has increased over the last 20 years because of many contributing factors and, most importantly, it has been suggested that a caesarean section improves sexual wellbeing compared to one Vaginal Delivery It is critical that a full range of maternal and fetal outcomes be assessed following cesarean delivery, including sexual and postnatal.

"This study provides really important information to expectant mothers as well as women who have given birth, showing that there was no difference in sexual pleasure or sexual frequency between women who delivered by cesarean section and women who delivered vaginally at any time after birth. It also suggests that cesarean section may not help protect against sexual dysfunction, as previously thought where Sex-related pain was higher in women who delivered by cesarean section more than 10 years after birth.

“Through longitudinal studies like Children of the 90s, researchers can provide evidence to help expectant mothers make well-informed decisions about their preferred choice of delivery in uncomplicated pregnancies and to support women postpartum when the choice was not an option for them in the delivery suite.”

Lynn Molloy, Chief Operating Officer at Children of the 90s

Source:

University of Bristol

Reference:

Martin, FZ, et al. (2022) Mode of Birth and Maternal Sexual Well-Being: A Longitudinal Study. BJOG An international journal of obstetrics and gynecology. doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.17262.

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