Female sexual dysfunction in women of reproductive age group in Nigeria, West Africa

Abstract

Introduction: Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD) is a real physical, psychological, social, spiritual and cultural problem in Nigeria, yet greatly understudied. There is plethora of information about male sexual dysfunction but paucity of research on female dysfunction.

Objectives: This study aims to assess the prevalence of FSD and correlates among women of reproductive age presenting at the General Outpatient Department of Kwara State Specialist Hospital.

Method: This was a hospital based, cross sectional, descriptive study of three hundred female of reproductive age group. Blood pressure was measured. Classification of hypertension was made according to the JNC 7. BMI was calculated as (kg/m2).The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) was used to assess the major components of sexual function. Participant were considered to have difficulties in a particular domain if they demonstrated scores <4.28 on the desire domain, <5.08 on the arousal domain, <5.45 on the lubrication domain, <5.05 on the orgasm domain, <5.04 on the satisfaction domain and <5.51 on the pain domain. The data were analyzed using the epidemiological information (Epi-info) 2005 software package. The 2 by 2contingency tables were used to carry out Chi-square test and to find out the level of significance and values less than 0.05 were regarded as statistically significant.

Result: Of the 300 female patients interviewed, 285 (95%) had sexual dysfunction while 15 (5%) did not. Types of sexual dysfunctional include, disorder of desire 273(91%), arousal 267(89%), lubrication 297(99%), orgasm 276(92%), satisfaction 258(86%) and pain 297(99%).

Conclusion: The findings of the study suggest that female sexual dysfunction is a significant problem that affects a substantial number of women in this environment. The most common dysfunction amongst women was in the pain and lubrication domains. The commonest cause of sexual dysfunction was aging, closely followed by socio-demographic predicament.

Keywords: Female Sexual Dysfunction, Reproductive Age Group, Nigeria, West Africa