MELBOURNE, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Seventy percent of women report having sexual problems after being treated for breast cancer, an Australian researcher says.
Mary Panjari of the Women's Health Program at Monash University in Melbourne finds 80 percent of the women who say they previously had a good and satisfying sex life report sexual function problems in the two years following a diagnosis of breast cancer.
The study, published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, suggests many of the women experiencing sexual problems had concerns about their body image after breast cancer or were undergoing specific treatments for breast cancer -- such as aromatase inhibitors -- that can exacerbate menopausal symptoms that affect sexual function.
"Women who have been diagnosed and treated for breast cancer still require support to maintain health and well-being after breast cancer," Panjari says in a statement. "As women now remain on aromatase inhibitors for longer periods, sexual function problems are likely to become more common amongst breast cancer survivors."
