Psychological Distress and Quality of Life of women affected by Chronic Pain conditions: understanding the role of sexual functioning, genito-pelvic pain and sexual satisfaction

Background and Aims: This contribution aimed to summarize the role of sexual functioning, genital pain, and satisfaction among women diagnosed with various chronic pain (CP) conditions, while also examining the influence of sexual factors on central sensitization levels and quality of life (QoL) for each condition separately. Methods: Between April 2023 and January 2024, an online protocol was completed by 1006 women distributed across five groups: Chronic Headache (CH), Fibromyalgia (FM), Vulvodynia (VU), Mixed Condition (MX), and Healthy Controls (HC). Results: Sexual impairment was reported across all groups, with the VU group exhibiting the highest prevalence of genital pain (97.93%), followed by MIX (74.29%) and FM (55.91%). Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) indicated lower sexual functioning scores for FM, VU, and MIX compared to HC and CH. VU and MIX also reported lower satisfaction scores than other groups. Genital pain emerged as the primary predictor of central sensitization across all groups