Impact of rheumatoid arthritis on sexual function

Core Tip

Core tip: Sexual functioning is a neglected area of quality of life in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) that is not routinely addressed by physicians or health professionals. Sexual functioning is also not part of questionnaires frequently used to assess physical function or quality of life. It is therefore important that physicians or any other health professionals in charge of handling these kinds of patients raise the subject of sexuality and discuss it with them. On the other hand, there are not enough studies comparing sexual functioning between RA patients and healthy controls and the impact of the treatments usually used in RA in improving sexual function. Because of the impact of this chronic inflammatory disease on sexual function and because there are not enough overviews about the impact of rheumatoid arthritis on sexual function, this systematic review is intended to cover this important but underestimated problem.