The prevalence of female sexual dissatisfaction and the dominant risk factors that may impair sexual satisfaction in Malaysian women

The study aims were to investigate the prevalence of sexual dissatisfaction and the potential risk factors. This was a cross-sectional study on women attending primary care setting in Malaysia over a period of March to June 2005, and used a non-probability sampling method. A validated questionnaire for sexual function was used. A total of 230 married women aged 21 - 62 years old participated in this study. The ressults show that the majority of the respondents were less than 45 years old, predominantly Malays, and with higher academic achievement. We noted that 52.2% (120/230) study subjects had sexual dissatisfaction. Race, salary, education level, medical problems, dysmenorrhea, and menacrhe were likely not correlated with sexual dissatisfaction. The dominant risk factor related to sexual dissatisfaction was age of husband. In additional, sexual dissatisfaction was moderately (P = 0.077) related to sexual per month. The subjects who had their husbands aged 43-75 years compared with 24-42 years had 68% increased risk to experience sexual dissatisfaction [ adjusted relative risk (RRa = 1.68; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.15 - 2.44]. In term of sexual frequency per month, those who had 1-3 times per month than 4-5 times per month had two-fold increased risk to experience sexual dissatisfaction (RRa = 2.03; 95% CI = 0.93-4.42; p = 0.077). In conclusion, the prevalence of sexual dissatisfaction was very high in Malaysian primary care population and it was strongly associated with women who married to an older husband and with infrequent sexual activity.