The prevalence of sexual dysfunctions in infertile women

Abstract

Objective

Sexuality is an important and integral part of every woman's life. The aim of this study was to assess the degree of sexual dysfunction among infertile women and its correlation with age, duration of marriage and etiology of infertility in women.

Materials and methods

300 infertile women who were referred to IVF center for management of their infertility problem involved in this study after informed consent. They were asked to fill a questionnaire that contained three parts of demographic, infertility and sexual function items. Distribution of sexual dysfunction and its relationship to infertility and marriage duration were analyzed through SPSS software.

Results

The most common sexual dysfunction was orgasm disorder (83.76%) and the rate of sexual desire disorder, dyspareunia and vaginismus were 80.7%, 67.7% and 76.7% respectively. More than 50% of cases mentioned decreased frequency of coitus after diagnosis of infertility. Vaginismus and dyspareunia were more common in 20–24 years age group.

Conclusion

According to the high rate of sexual dysfunction in this study and almost the same rate in other studies, gynecologists should pay more attention to this important issue and encourage the patients to have an evaluation by a psychiatrist or psychologist.