|
Where
to Buy Tribulus to Help Female Sexual Probems
Sexual Problems In Women Prevalent But Not
Always Associated With
Distress
November 3, 2008
The largest such study ever published finds that, while about
40 percent of women surveyed
report having sexual problems, only 12 percent
indicate that those issues are a source of
significant personal distress. The report led by
a Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)
physician appears in the November issue of
Obstetrics & Gynecology.
"Sexual problems are common in women, but problems associated
with personal distress,
those which are truly bothersome and affect a
woman's quality of life, are much less
frequent." says Jan Shifren, MD, of the MGH
Obstetrics and Gynecology Service, who led
the study. "For a sexual concern to be
considered a medical problem, it must be associated
with distress, so it's
important to assess this in both research studies and patient care."
Several studies and surveys of sexual problems in women have
found problems with low
desire, diminished arousal or difficulties with orgasm in
approximately 40 percent of women,
but few of those have asked about levels of
distress associated with those problems. The
current study surveyed 32,000 women aged 18 to
over 100 from across the U.S. using a
well-established survey of sexual
function supplemented by a validated measure of a
woman's distress related to her sex
life - including feelings of anger, guilt, frustration, and
worry.
Some level of sexual problem was reported in 43 percent of
the female respondents - with
39 percent reporting low levels of desire, 26 percent
problems with arousal and 21 percent
difficulties with orgasm. But distress related to
any of these problems was reported by only
12 percent of study participants. Although
the prevalence of sexual problems was highest in
women over 65, that group reported
the lowest levels of distress, while distress was
reported most frequently in
women aged 45 to 64. The youngest group - those from 18 to
44 - had lower levels of
both problems and distress. Women with depression were more
than twice as
likely to report distress over any type of sexual problem as those not suffering
from
depression.
"Although sexual problems were very common in women over age
65, these problems often
weren't associated with distress," Shifren
says. "Several factors could be behind the lower
levels of distress in the oldest group.
If their partners also have low desire, it may not be
looked on as a problem, or
additional health issues could be of greater concern.
"While distressing sexual problems are much less common in
women than sexual problems
overall, they still affect approximately one in
eight adult women," she adds. "As part of a
thorough health assessment, it's important that
health care providers ask their female patients
if they have sexual concerns and if
those problems are associated with distress. Although
this study did not examine treatments
for sexual problems, effective options are available -
including relationship
counseling, treatment of associated medical conditions and sex
therapy." Shifren is an
associate professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive
Biology at Harvard
Medical School.
|
