{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,19]],"date-time":"2026-10-19T10:46:19Z","timestamp":1792406779116,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,19]],"date-time":"2026-10-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1792368000000},"content-version":"am","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Aims<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>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.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods and results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>ROMANT'IC was a national descriptive questionnaire study including1,398 patients with HF (921 men, 477 women; age 18\u201393 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&amp;lt;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 (\u03c72=17.02, p=0.001): 52.9% at 18\u201340 years, 50.0% at 41\u201355 years, 48.3% at 56\u201365 years, and 65.5% at \u226566 years and increased markedly with dyspnea severity: 47.8% at Grade 1, 50.3% at Grade 2, and 79.0% at Grades 3\u20134 (\u03c72=40.96, p&amp;lt;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\u20136.64], p&amp;lt;0.001), whereas sex and age were not significant after adjustment. Overall, 72\u201380% had never discussed sexuality with their cardiologist, regardless of dyspnea severity or age.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>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.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1093\/eschf\/xvag249","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,19]],"date-time":"2026-10-19T10:13:22Z","timestamp":1792404802000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Sexual Health in Heart Failure: How Age, Sex, and Dyspnea Interact to Shape Intimacy and Unmet Clinical Needs"],"prefix":"10.1093","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4058-3848","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thibaud","family":"Damy","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Dept. of Cardiology, H\u00f4pitaux Universitaires Henri Mondor, AP-HP, Universit\u00e9 Paris Est Cr\u00e9teil (UPEC), CEPIA team INSERM U955 ; F-CRIN GRACE, 94000 Cr\u00e9teil ,","place":["France"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Benoit","family":"Lequeux","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dept. of Cardiology, University Hospital , 86000 Poitiers ,","place":["France"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Barnabas","family":"Gellen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dept. of Cardiology, ELSAN Clinic , 86000 Poitiers ,","place":["France"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0418-3110","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Emmanuelle","family":"Berthelot","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dept. of Cardiology, H\u00f4pital Bic\u00eatre, 94250 Le Kremlin-Bic\u00eatre; UMR S1538 INSERM, Universit\u00e9 Paris Saclay ,","place":["France"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Brigitte","family":"Letombe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Gynecology practice , 75008 Paris ,","place":["France"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elodie","family":"Huet","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dept. of Cardiology, H\u00f4pital Brabois , 54500 Vandoeuvre-l\u00e8s-Nancy ,","place":["France"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5142-2479","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Charles","family":"Taieb","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Emma Clinic , 94100 Vincennes ,","place":["France"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Clemence","family":"Gout","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sexology and Gynecology office , 75015 Paris ,","place":["France"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Loriane","family":"Salieg\u00e9","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cardiology practice , 30900 N\u00eemes ,","place":["France"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fran\u00e7ois","family":"Roubille","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"PhyMedExp, Dept. of Cardiology, Universit\u00e9 de Montpellier, INSERM, CNRS, INI-CRT , CHU de Montpellier ,","place":["France"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9200-2729","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Guillaume","family":"Baudry","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CIC plurith\u00e9matique 1433, Universit\u00e9 de Lorraine, INSERM U1116-DCAC, F-CRIN INI-CRT, REICATRA Network , 54500 Vandoeuvre-l\u00e8s-Nancy ,","place":["France"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-3958-7572","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marc","family":"Villaceque","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cardiology practice , 30900 N\u00eemes ,","place":["France"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"286","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,19]]},"container-title":["ESC Heart Failure"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/eschf\/advance-article-pdf\/doi\/10.1093\/eschf\/xvag249\/72089684\/xvag249.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"am","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/eschf\/advance-article-pdf\/doi\/10.1093\/eschf\/xvag249\/72089684\/xvag249.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,19]],"date-time":"2026-10-19T10:13:22Z","timestamp":1792404802000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/eschf\/advance-article\/doi\/10.1093\/eschf\/xvag249\/8937279"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,19]]},"references-count":0,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/eschf\/xvag249","relation":{},"ISSN":["2055-5822"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2055-5822","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,19]]},"article-number":"xvag249"}}