{
  "abstract": "AIMS: Sexual health is a cornerstone of well-being among the least explored aspects of heart failure (HF) care. Guidelines offer minimal, male-focused recommendations, leaving female sexual health underaddressed. The ROMANT'IC study investigated how HF affects intimacy and sexuality across sex, age and symptom burden. METHODS AND RESULTS: ROMANT'IC was a national descriptive questionnaire study including1,398 patients with HF (921 men, 477 women; age 18-93 years). Overall, 655 (46.9%) provided detailed responses:491 (53.3%) men, 164 (34.4%) women indicating a reluctance to disclose information on sexuality (p<0.001). 57.8% men, and 53.7% women reported no sexual activity in the previous three months. Sexual inactivity varied significantly across age groups (χ2=17.02, p=0.001): 52.9% at 18-40 years, 50.0% at 41-55 years, 48.3% at 56-65 years, and 65.5% at ≥66 years and increased markedly with dyspnea severity: 47.8% at Grade 1, 50.3% at Grade 2, and 79.0% at Grades 3-4 (χ2=40.96, p<0.001). Men reported erectile dysfunction (49.0%) and treatment side effects (39.5%); women reported loss of desire (65.4%), reduced sense of seductiveness (61.5%), and depression (42.3%). Severe dyspnea independently predicted sexual inactivity (OR=3.88 [2.26-6.64], p<0.001), whereas sex and age were not significant after adjustment. Overall, 72-80% had never discussed sexuality with their cardiologist, regardless of dyspnea severity or age. CONCLUSION: HF profoundly alters sexuality. Dyspnea severity is the dominant independent driver of sexual inactivity and represents a potentially modifiable therapeutic target. These findings call for systematic, gender- and age-sensitive, dyspnea-graded sexual counselling in routine HF care.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 12,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Thibaud Damy"
    },
    {
      "name": "Benoit Lequeux"
    },
    {
      "name": "Barnabas Gellen"
    },
    {
      "name": "Emmanuelle Berthelot"
    },
    {
      "name": "Brigitte Letombe"
    },
    {
      "name": "Elodie Huet"
    },
    {
      "name": "Charles Taieb"
    },
    {
      "name": "Clemence Gout"
    },
    {
      "name": "Loriane Saliegé"
    },
    {
      "name": "François Roubille"
    },
    {
      "name": "Guillaume Baudry"
    },
    {
      "name": "Marc Villaceque"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7qj0hpxky485e.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1093/eschf/xvag249",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "7qj0hpxky485e",
  "issns": [
    "2055-5822"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://hal.science/hal-05820805v1",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "hal",
      "0.sdv"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2738|Sexual function and dysfunction studies"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7222941799",
  "pdf_url": "https://academic.oup.com/eschf/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/eschf/xvag249/72089684/xvag249.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": "42895114",
  "published": "2026-10-19",
  "publisher": "Wiley",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7qj0hpxky485e.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:59Z",
      "native_id": "hal-05820805",
      "source": "hal",
      "url": "https://hal.science/hal-05820805v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2738|Sexual function and dysfunction studies",
      "subfield": "psychiatry"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Sexual Health in Heart Failure: How Age, Sex, and Dyspnea Interact to Shape Intimacy and Unmet Clinical Needs",
  "title_text": "Sexual Health in Heart Failure: How Age, Sex, and Dyspnea Interact to Shape Intimacy and Unmet Clinical Needs",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:59Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7qj0hpxky485e",
  "venue": "ESC Heart Failure",
  "versions": []
}