The prevalence of female sexual dysfunction among migraine patients

Female sexual dysfunction (FSD) defines as any disorder in the process of sexual contact including 6 main domains, desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, orgasm satisfaction and pain. This study was conducted to evaluate prevalence of sexual dysfunction disorder in women with migraine headache and also find the associated factors related to migraine characteristics.

A total of 69 eligible woman patients fulfilling criteria for migraine participated in this study. The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), a multi-dimensional self-report implement for appraisal of Female Sexual Function during the past month were utilized in this study. The information related to migraine including frequency, duration of headache attack, severity of headache according to visual analog scale (VAS) score and headache impact test (HIT) score were obtained using a self-administrated questionnaire.

About 68.4% of patients had an FSFI score < 28. In domains of desire 73.7%, arousal 64.9%, lubrication 21.1%, orgasm 33.3%, satisfaction 17.5%, and pain 40.4% of patients reported some degree of dysfunction. Among variables related to migraine characteristics, only a significant association between frequency and sexual dysfunction were recorded (P < 0.05).

FSD is prevalent among migraine patients. The frequency of a migraine attack is associated with FSD. Serotonin mechanisms such as 5HT2, 5HT3 agonist have been hypothesized as a shared etiology for migraine and sexual dysfunction.