Sexual Health in Pelvic Floor Disorders: Bridging Gaps Across Mechanisms, Interventions, and Care Models

Sexual health is a fundamental component of overall well-being and quality of life, yet it remains substantially under-assessed and insufficiently integrated into clinical decision-making for patients with pelvic floor disorders (PFDs). Despite the high prevalence of sexual dysfunction in conditions such as pelvic organ prolapse, urinary incontinence, chronic pelvic pain, and neuro-urological disorders — including male pelvic floor disorders and sexual dysfunction following prostate or pelvic cancer treatment — sexual outcomes are still rarely included as primary endpoints in clinical trials and are often overlooked in routine care pathways.

This persistent gap reflects a broader fragmentation in the management of PFDs, where surgical, conservative, and rehabilitative approaches are frequently considered in isolation rather than as components of a coordinated, patient-centered strategy. As a result, the complex interplay of anatomical, neurological, psychological, and relational factors underlying sexual function remains insufficiently addressed, including in populations that may face additional barriers to care, such as individuals living with physical or neurological disabilities.

Looking forward, emerging developments, including digital therapeutics, remote monitoring technologies, and personalized care models, offer promising opportunities to better assess, monitor, and manage sexual health outcomes in this population. At the same time, evolving clinical practice must confront important trade-offs and ongoing controversies, such as the balance between continence and preservation of sexual function, particularly in surgical and post-oncologic settings.

This Research Topic aims to provide a comprehensive and forward-looking perspective on sexual health in PFDs, with particular attention to integrated and multidisciplinary care across different clinical contexts, including post-surgical and post-oncologic populations.

We welcome contributions across the following thematic areas:

• Mechanisms and Pathophysiology: Understanding the biological, neurological, and psychosocial determinants of sexual dysfunction in PFDs.

• Interventions and Therapeutic Innovations: Surgical techniques, conservative therapies, rehabilitation strategies, regenerative medicine, and emerging digital or technology-assisted interventions.

• Care Models and Outcome Assessment: Multidisciplinary approaches, shared decision-making, patient-reported outcomes, integration of sexual health into clinical decision-making, and innovative monitoring strategies (including remote and personalized care).

• Special Populations and Clinical Contexts: Post-surgical and post-oncologic patients, individuals with disabilities (including neurological and mobility impairments), as well as other underrepresented or high-risk groups.

• Clinical Trade-offs and Controversies: Decision-making challenges and competing priorities in treatment (e.g., continence vs. sexual function), including ethical and patient-centered considerations.

By fostering a more structured, integrative, and future-oriented dialogue, this collection seeks to generate clinically actionable evidence and promote more systematic integration of sexual health into the assessment and management of pelvic floor disorders.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Clinical Trial
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Clinical Trial
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Pelvic Floor Disorders, Sexual Dysfunction, Pelvic Organ Prolapse, Urinary Incontinence, Chronic Pelvic Pain, Rehabilitation, Patient-Reported Outcomes

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.