Sexual dysfunction in a cohort of patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis. Influence of dupilumab treatment

Abstract

Introduction: Atopic dermatitis is a systemic and immune-mediated dermatological disease that comprises a wide group of physiological and psychological comorbidities. Within the latter, the evaluation of anxiety and depression has been the subject of numerous studies, but sexual dysfunction (SD) is a fact that is rarely addressed in the literature. The objective of the present study is to assess the prevalence of SD in a cohort of patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD) and to establish the possible impact of dupilumab therapy on it.

Material and methods: A cross-sectional study was performed. Recruited patients had been diagnosed with moderate-to-severe AD at the Dermatology Unit of the Hospital Universitario San Cecilio, Granada, Spain, from July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020. They were followed up for a 6-month period during which the impact of dupilumab treatment was measured. The main variable under study, sexual dysfunction, was evaluated differently according to gender. Regarding the male patients, the International Index Erectile Function (IIEF-5) was applied, whereas for female patients, the questionnaire "Female Sexual Function Index" was used.

Results: Our study included 31 patients, 18 men and 13 women. Men's mean age was 35 +/- 14.55 years, while that of women was 33 +/- 10.46 years. Seventy-nine percent of patients in our series (n = 22) had SD compared to 29% (n = 9) who did not. A total of 66.9% of males and 76.9% (n = 10) of females sampled, suffered from SD. Six months after initiation of treatment, none of the patient had stopped it due to efficacy or safety issues. All severity indices (SCORAD, EASI, VAS pruritus, and DLQI) had significantly improved by more than 50% from baseline. The improvement in the sexual dysfunction index had improved by four points, both in the male and female patients.

Discussion: Many large population studies on SD in patients with moderate-to-severe atopic AD only focus on male gender and clinical diagnoses, rather than specific and validated questionnaires. Dupilumab treatment in patients with moderate-to-severe AD has shown a positive impact on the levels of SD in both male and female populations. Further studies focused on populations with mild atopic AD and with larger sample sizes are required to corroborate these preliminary results.