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Recognition and practice patterns of sexual medicine experts towards postorgasmic illness syndrome

International Journal of Impotence Research (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Post-orgasmic illness syndrome (POIS) is a rare, but debilitating cluster of symptoms, occurring after ejaculation with unknown mechanism and uncertain treatment. To the best of our knowledge, this study, which is thought to be the first in the literature, is aimed to investigate the practice patterns of sexual medicine experts towards POIS. Worldwide sexual medicine experts were invited to participate anonymously in an online, open survey using SurveyMonkey between November 14, 2022, and January 15, 2023. In total 211 sexual medicine experts filled the survey. The majority of the participants were urologists (83.9%). Most participants stated that the available information about POIS was inadequate for both patients and physicians. 47.9% of the participants stated psychological disorder, 46.4% stated bio-psycho-social reasons for the responsibility for the pathophysiology of POIS. 56.4% of the participants stated that they would refer the patient for psychotherapy/sexual therapy to a sexologist, 41.7% would prefer antihistamine drugs to manage symptoms. Only 18% of participants reported symptom improvement in more than 30% of the patients. This survey study among sexual medicine experts from different parts of the world has developed representative estimates of knowledge, attitudes and practice patterns regarding POIS worldwide.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Global Andrology Forum (GAF), European Society for Sexual Medicine (ESSM), Sexual Medicine Society of North America (SMSNA), Society of Urological Surgery in Turkey (SUS) and International Society for Sexual Medicine (ISSM) for their valuable contribution to the distribution of the survey.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, Pamukkale University, School of Medicine, Denizli, Turkey

    Mesut Berkan Duran

  2. Department of Urology, Georgetown University, Georgetown, Washington, DC, 20007, USA

    Rachel S. Rubin

  3. Reuth Rehabilitation Hospital, Tel-Aviv, Israel

    Yacov Reisman

  4. Flare-Health, Amstelveen, The Netherlands

    Yacov Reisman

  5. Department of Urology, Biruni University School of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey

    Ege Can Serefoglu

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  1. Mesut Berkan Duran
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  2. Rachel S. Rubin
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  3. Yacov Reisman
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  4. Ege Can Serefoglu
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Contributions

Concept and design; MBD, ECS, data collecting or processing; MBD, RSR, YR, analysis and interpretation of findings; MBD, literature search; MBD, ECS, writing; MBD, ECS, Drafting or revision of the manuscript; MBD, ECS, RSR, YR, Approval of the final version of the manuscript; MBD, ECS, RSR, YR.

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Correspondence to Ege Can Serefoglu.

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Duran, M.B., Rubin, R.S., Reisman, Y. et al. Recognition and practice patterns of sexual medicine experts towards postorgasmic illness syndrome. Int J Impot Res (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-023-00753-x

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