A Survey of Urban Middle-aged Women's Sexual Function and Sexual Distress

Park, Young Sook; Cho, In Sook; Kim, Yoon Mi

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
This survey assessed the prevalence and type of sexual dysfunction in middle-aged women regarding sexually related personal distress and examined the prevalence of perceived sexual dysfunction and perceived partners' dysfunction by women.
METHODS
One-hundred ten healthy community-based middle-aged women participated voluntarily, and validated question- naires of the Female Sexual Function Index(FSFI) and the Female Sexual Distress Score(FSDS) were used.
RESULTS
The percentage of women having sexual dysfunction and sexual distress were 67% and 32% respectively according to the cut-off of FSFI and FSDS. The average score of FSFI was 23.5(s.d.=5.7), which was lower than the cut-off of FSFI, while the average score of FSDS was 13.2, which was in range of a normal score. When considering the two concepts simultaneously, the women were categorized into 4 groups: sexually stressed dysfunction group (24.8%), sexually depressed group(42.2%), sexually healthy group(25.7%), and sexually hyperactive group (7.3%). The percentage of women reporting sexual problems was 24.3%, while the percentage of women reporting sexual dysfunction in their partner was 29.9%.
CONCLUSIONS
The results indicate a high rate of sexual dysfunction and sexual distress in middle-aged women. However, considering the relationships between sexual dysfunction and sexual distress, almost two thirds were in the sexually depressed group among the women having sexual dysfunction.