Prevalence Survey of Sexual Dysfunction among Women in the Reproductive Age Group Referred to the Islamic Azad University Hospital During 2011-2012

Sexual dysfunctions are common and are regarded as important health problems for women of all ages with related quality of life issues. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to explore the frequency of sexual dysfunction among women in reproductive age group referred to the Islamic Azad University hospitals. This study was performed on married women selected by simple random sampling, aged 15-45 years who referred to Boo–Ali, Amir-Al-Momenin and Javaheri hospitals in Tehran, Iran from August 2011 to August 2012. Data were collected by face-to-face interview and completion of self-report questionnaires that assessed sexual functions among women in six separate dimensions. Analysis was done using Pearson correlation coefficient by SPSS 14.0; significant difference was set at 0.05. A total of 384 women with mean age of 28.6±7.1 years were enrolled. The mean Body Mass Index (BMI) was 27.4±2.6 kg/m2. Ninety-seven subjects (25.2%) had never attained an orgasm, 31 (8%) had a low level satisfactory relationship with their husband, 55(14.3%) had painful intercourse, 42(10.9%) had arousal disorder, all of which increased significantly with age (P=0.003). Female Sexual dysfunctions had a significant negative correlation with BMI (P=0.004). The emotional relationship (P=0.003) and educational level (P=0.08) were significantly associated with the Female Sexual Function (FSF) score. No significant difference was detected in marriage duration (P=0.081) and used contraception methods (P=0.081). The prevalence of female sexual dysfunction including desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction and pain problems increased with age and BMI. In addition, lower educational level is an associated factor that may cause sexual dysfunction. Also, emotional relationship had positive association with FSF score, while it was not associated with the use of contraceptive methods.