Identificação de disfunções sexuais em diferentes fases do ciclo de vida feminino: um estudo transversal

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), sexual health is defined as physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality. Sexual function is subject to change during the phases of women's lives, whether in early adulthood, pregnancy, postpartum or climacteric. AIM: To identify the most common sexual dysfunctions in the different phases of the female life cycle: young women without children, young women with children, pregnancy, postpartum, climacteric, in Brazilian women. METHODS: A cross-sectional study carried out with 256 Brazilian women aged between 18 and 60 years, sexually active for at least 4 weeks, at any stage of the life cycle. The survey was disseminated and answered via the Internet. A questionnaire developed by the authors was used, as well as the Female Sexual Function Index. The identification of the occurrence of sexual dysfunction was made through absolute and relative frequencies. Bivariate analysis between the outcome variable and the independent variables was performed using the chi-square test. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 30.18±8.18 years (age range 18 to 54). Painful dysfunctions and dysfunctions related to desire were significantly related to the stage of life the woman is in (<0.001 and 0.026, respectively). Painful disorders were more prevalent in childless women (57.4%) and problems related to desire in postpartum women (57.1%). Hypoactive desire, dysorgasmia and dyspareunia were the most self-reported sexual dysfunctions by participants. CONCLUSION: Women are subject to having sexual dysfunctions at all stages of life. The most prevalent sexual dysfunctions in this sample were painful dysfunctions and problems related to sexual desire.