Impact of Pregnancy on the Sex Life of Women: State of the Art

Introduction: Women’s sexual function is a complex ensemble of variables that involve physical, emotional, and psychosocial states. Objective: This review aims to evaluate the evidence about the sexual behavior of women during pregnancy. Methods: Survey of PubMed for the period from 1996 to 2011 for prospective, retrospective and case-control studies, randomized clinical trials, meta-analyses and systematic reviews on the sexual function of women during pregnancy using the terms “sexual function”, “sexual dysfunction”, “sexuality”, “pregnancy”, and “pregnant woman”. Results: Changes occur in the sexual function of women during pregnancy; however, due to the heterogeneity of the studies and the incomparability of samples for lack of pairing for cultural, age, length of relationship and gestational age variables, and other methodological biases, it is not possible to characterize the sexual response of pregnant women. Conclusions: The changes observed are not sufficient to characterize sexual behavior during pregnancy as pathological. It is therefore necessary to standardize the study groups and the instruments for the assessment of sexual function, to determine the presence of distress concomitant with changes in sexual function, and to assess the sexual function of the partner and the impact of changes on the dyadic relationship before and after the gestational period.