Vaginismus and pregnancy: epidemiological profile and management diffi

Radhouane Achour,¹ Marianne Koch,² Yosra Zgueb,³ Uta Ouali,³ Rim Ben Hmid¹

¹Emergency Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Maternity and Neonatology Center of Tunis, Faculty of drugs of Tunis, El Manar College of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia ²Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical College of Vienna Austria ³Psychiatry Department, Razi Hospital, Faculty of drugs of Tunis, El Manar College of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia

Background: Vaginismus affects as much as 1% from the female population and frequently represents an actual symbol of a fundamental mental problem. Our objective ended up being to investigate psychosomatic impact of vaginismus in women that are pregnant and evaluate the caliber of their therapeutic care in Tunisia.
Methods: We incorporated pregnant patients with vaginismus who presented at our obstetric emergency department between October 2016 and March 2017. All patients were interviewed by one expert mental health specialist and doctor utilizing a standardized questionnaire. The Condition-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was utilized to find out depression and anxiety levels. Patients were prospectively adopted until their postpartum period and were interviewed through the same experts after delivery. 16 days after hospital discharge, we contacted all patients via phone. All the details was concurrently recorded in written form.
Results: Twenty pregnant patients with vaginismus were incorporated (85% primary, 15% secondary). Nearly all women described a conservative family background (70%) that they received little if any sexual education (60%). All ladies described a sense of anxiety and anger immediately before sexual activity and 40% haven’t searched for medical consultation regarding vaginismus before. Only 50% reported regular follow-up visits throughout their pregnancy (without vaginal examination), whereas 25% reported irregular follow-up visits with subjectively bad encounters during attempts of vaginal examinations.
Conclusion: Women that are pregnant with vaginismus are vulnerable to non-follow-up throughout their pregnancy because of underlying feelings of shame and experienced lack of knowledge by medical staff. Obstetricians should carefully and attentively approach women that are pregnant with vaginismus to guarantee sufficient health care while pregnant.

Keywords: vaginismus, pregnancy, profile, impact

Resourse: https://dovepress.com/