Boston, October 31: A study assessing the prevalence of female sexual problems shows that about 40 percent of the women have sex dysfunction and 12 percent are significantly distressed by it.
A survey of more than 32,000 women aged 18 and more, published in Obstetrics and Gynecology (The Green Journal), showed that one in ten experienced diminished feelings of sexual desire.
Sexual problems persisted in high numbers in women over 65 but this group displayed the lowest levels of distress. The rate of depressiondefine was highest in the mid-age bracket of 45-65 years. The lowest distress symptoms were found among the young ladies.
Sexually related personal distress, medically termed Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD), is closely associated with female sex problem. Unfortunately, the condition is largely under-diagnosed and under-recognized.
The study failed to clarify why older women who had the maximum sex related problems were the least affected by them. Conditions like diabetes, blood pressure and cardiacdefine arrests that plummet a man’s sexual appetite, displayed no evidence of suppressing the female carnal needs.
Women prone to depression were more vulnerable to sex dysfunction. Feelings of guilt, frustration, stress, anger, embarrassment and unhappiness were some reasons cited for lack of desire. Also poor self assessed health, anxiety, thyroid and urinary incontinence could be responsible for the predicament.
Study leader, Dr Jan Shifren, of Vincent Obstetrics and Gynecology Service of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, said that inspite of sex dysfunctional problem being quite rampant in women, “for sexual concern to be considered a medical problem it must be associated with distress, so it is important to assess this in both research studies and patient care.”
Dr Shifren felt that physicians should evaluate the patient’s level of distress in relation to the problem. “As distressing sexual problems were identified in approximately one in eight women, health care providers need to ask the patients about sexual concern, and whether they are causing unhappiness, frustration or other distressing feeling that may be impacting their quality of life,” Shifren said.
Sheryl Kingsberg, chief of behavioral medicine at McDonald Women’s Hospital, Cleveland, believed it to be a ‘wake up call’ for physicians. She elaborated that, “48 percent of patients have sex concerns and 12 percent have enough of a concern that it is a significant dysfunction in life. This needs to be addressed.”
The research was funded by Beohringer Ingelheim International, makers of flibanserin, a drug being tested for female dysfunction.
Earlier studies have also reported estimates of the problem at hand, but the most widely circulated figures are those of U.S. National Health and Social Life Survey. According to this report 43 percent of the respondents experienced some level of sexual dysfunction. Nearly 39 percent complained of low levels of desire, 26 percent problems of arousal and 21 percent had difficulty attaining orgasm.
This issue has been handled for years by clinical psychologists, mental health experts and sex therapists. It is only recently that flibanserin is considered a medical option to tackle the problem.
With more than a few researches in progress, Dr kingsberg sees a ray of hope to dispel this sexual dilemma. “Right now there is very limited option but I think it is coming up.”
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