Sexual desire and menopausal development. A prospective study of Danish women born in 1936

This study examines the nature of sexual desire experienced during the climacteric and attempts to identify predictors for frequency and change of sexual desire using a prospective design. Four-hundred seventy-four women constituting 76% of the original cohort of a general population of Danish women born in 1936 were examined by interview and questionnaire at the ages of 40, 45 and 51. The main items were sexual behaviour, expectations towards or experience of menopause, general health status and social background. Most women (70%) experienced no change in sexual desire during the study period. The 51-year-old women's experience of frequency or change in sexual desire was not related to menopausal status. Frequency of sexual desire was highly correlated to previous and present subjective health status, former sexual activity, partner availability and social status. Anticipations of declining sexual desire as a consequence of menopause actually predicted a decrease. Finally, decrease in sexual desire correlated significantly with the women's subjective assessment of being climacteric.