Prevalence and characteristics of female sexual dysfunction in a sample of women from Upper Egypt

To study the prevalence and associated risk factors for female sexual dysfunction (FSD) in Upper Egypt.

Married women attending the outpatient clinic of Sohag University Hospital between February 2008 and March 2009 were recruited. Through direct interviews, each woman completed a questionnaire that included questions on sexual dysfunction.

From 648 recruited patients, 47 declined to participate in the study. Of the 601 remaining participants, 462 women (76.9%) reported 1 or more sexual problems. Low sexual desire was the most common sexual problem (66.4%). Patients with FSD were significantly more likely to be older than 40 years, have sexual intercourse fewer than 3 times a week, have been married for 10 years or more, have 5 children or more, be circumcised, have a husband aged 40 years or more, and be postmenopausal. Age of the women maintained a statistically significant positive relationship with FSD in the regression model (odds ratio 1.39; 95% CI, 1.26-1.53).

There was a high prevalence of FSD in this sample of women from Upper Egypt. The prevalence of sexual problems increased with increasing age of the women.