Changes in Pelvic Health, Sexual Function, and Quality of Life in Women With Pelvic Cancer Undergoing Radiation Therapy

Vaginal Health Assessment (VHA) tool; vaginal length and diameter will be reported as categorical variables (Eaton et al., 2017). Estimates will be <2.5, 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 or >4 cm. Vaginal length will be estimated based on manual exam. Estimates will be <4cm, 4-6cm, and >6cm. We will first test bivariate correlations between physical exam outcomes and categorical sociodemographic factors using Fisher's exact test at each time point. The study team will test bivariate correlations between physical exam outcomes and continuous sociodemographic factors using ANOVA at each time point. Next, the study team will employ one-tailed Wilcoxon signed-rank test to assess the effects of radiation by comparing 1-month, 3-month, 6-month, 12-month and 24-month physical exam outcomes to baseline.

The Vaginal Assessment Scale (VAS) and Vulvar Assessment Scale (VuAS) are tools to identify vulvovaginal symptoms over the past 4 weeks including vaginal dryness, soreness, irritation, and dyspareunia. Items are scored 0 (none) to 3 (severe) and a composite score is calculated by taking the mean of the items. Will first test bivariate correlations between patient reported outcomes and categorical sociodemographic factors using ANOVA. Will then test bivariate correlations between patient-reported outcomes and continuous sociodemographic factors using Pearson's correlation. Will employ one-tailed paired sample t-test to assess the effects of radiation by comparing patient-reported outcomes at each time point to baseline. Will also report 95% confidence intervals and effect sizes. Will utilize mixed-effects modeling to demonstrate changes in each outcome variable over time adjusting for demographic/clinical characteristics.

Female Sexual Functioning Index (FSFI) is a 19 item self -reported instrument measuring six domains of sexual functioning including arousal, orgasm, satisfaction and pain. The maximum score is 36 and a score of ≤ 26.0 indicates sexual dysfunction. Will first test bivariate correlations between patient reported outcomes and categorical sociodemographic factors using ANOVA. Will then test bivariate correlations between patient-reported outcomes and continuous sociodemographic factors using Pearson's correlation. Will employ one-tailed paired sample t-test to assess the effects of radiation by comparing patient-reported outcomes at each time point to baseline. Will also report 95% confidence intervals and effect sizes. Will utilize mixed-effects modeling to demonstrate changes in each outcome variable over time adjusting for demographic/clinical characteristics.

The Lactobacillus to Prevotella ratio (LPR) will be calculated. The vaginal dryness (binary, VAS score <=2 vs >2) will be related to the LPR (continuous) by logistic regression. A significant relationship of LPR with vaginal dryness will be evaluated by Wald test. The LPR is correlated with abundance of macrophages by Spearman correlation. Spearman correlation is used to determine the association between LPR relative abundance and expression of a gene or composition of the immune cells. We will use linear discriminant analysis to explore a linear combination of gene expression, microbe relative abundance and immune cell composition to predict vaginal dryness. The level of inflammation in the tissue will be estimated by aggregating the expression of standard "inflammasome" genes. LPR will be correlated with the aggregated inflammation value by Spearman correlation.