The book “Medical Disorders and Sexual Health” was presented today. It is a summary of the impact of the main medical disorders on sexuality. Written and edited by Dr Camil Castelo-Branco and Dr Sònia Anglès, specialists from the Gynaecology Service at the Hospital Clínic Barcelona, the book was produced in collaboration with 50 professionals from the Clínic.
The aim of this guide for healthcare professionals is to increase scientific knowledge about human sexuality and sexual health, in order to optimize the identification of the pathophysiology of sexual dysfunction that can be caused by different illnesses. It also seeks to improve the quality of life of patients, promoting the proactivity of medical professionals in the care of the sexual sphere. For this reason, the book highlights the importance of the sexual interview as an essential element of medical history.
It deals with everything from medical disorders and their impact on sexuality to sexual symptoms as the sign of an underlying illness, such as the case of erectile dysfunction as the first symptom of coronary artery disease, a type of heart disease.
Many medical disorders, especially chronic ones, have a negative effect on different aspects of sexual function, such as desire, arousal, orgasm or ejaculation. Chronic illness affects sexual function in many ways, such as fatigue, pain, dependency, impairment of self-image, and the impact on relationships. Moreover, the sexual symptoms may be the sign of a serious underlying disease.
“We think this book can be useful for all health professionals, not only gynaecologists, andrologists and/or sexual medicine professionals, but also for anyone interested in the subject, from general practitioners to specialists in more cross-cutting areas and other disciplines such as nursing or physiotherapy”, says Dr Castelo-Branco. Dr Sonia Anglès, meanwhile, believes that, “the voluntary involvement of so many professionals from different fields demonstrates the awareness and interest in expanding knowledge and formal training in this area, in order to be able to offer the people we treat quality care for their sexual health ”.
