The prevalence of female sexual dysfunction and potential risk factors that may impair sexual function in Turkish women

Objectives: To detect the prevalence of sexual dysfunction, and also to investigate possible risk factors that may cause sexual dysfunction in the Turkish women. Materials and Methods: The study consisted of 179 women between the ages of 18 and 66 years living in households from different sociocultural areas. The women were divided into 5 groups according to their ages: 18 - 27 years (n = 23), 28 - 37 years (n = 55), 38 - 47 years (n = 43), 48 - 57 years ( n = 44) and 58 - 67 years ( n = 14). Female sexual function was evaluated with a detailed 19-item questionnaire to assess desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction and pain. The prevalence of sexual dysfunction was calculated for each domain and compared among the groups. In addition, demographic characteristics and medical risk factors were assessed in all women, and the findings were compared between the women with and without sexual dysfunction. Results: Based on total sexual function score, 84 (46.9%) out of 179 women had sexual dysfunction. The prevalence of female sexual dysfunction was 21.7% in the ages of 18 27 years, 25.5% in the ages of 28 - 37 years, 53.5% in the ages of 38 - 47 years, 65.9% in the ages of 48 - 57 years and 92.9% in the ages of 58 - 67 years. The prevalence of sexual dysfunction for each domain also increased with age. To investigate various factors that may cause female sexual dysfunction, no significant differences were detected in smoking history ( p = 0.14), marriage age ( p = 0.7), the presence of previous pelvic surgery ( p = 0.09), and contraception methods used ( p = 0.31). However, sexual dysfunction was observed as significantly higher in the presence of older age ( p = 0.001), lower educational level ( p = 0.012), unemployment status ( p = 0.017), chronic disease ( p = 0.032), multiparity ( p = 0.0027) and menopause status ( p = 0.0001). Conclusions: The prevalence of female sexual dysfunction including desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction and pain problems increases with age. In addition, the presence of a lower educational level, unemployment status, chronic diseases, multiparity and menopause status are important risk factors that may cause sexual dysfunction. Copyright (C) 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel.