A cross-sectional study of female sexual dysfunction among Turkish pregnant and nonpregnant women: correlation with hormone profile

Year 2019, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 258 - 267, 04.03.2019

Bahar Sarıibrahim Astepe , İşıl Köleli

https://doi.org/10.18621/eurj.432490

Cited By: 2

Abstract

Objectives:
To determine the
prevalence of female sexual dysfunction (FSD) and its correlation with the
androgenic hormones among pregnant and nonpregnant Turkish women.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study
of 251 women, including 137 healthy pregnant and 114 healthy nonpregnant
Turkish women. Assessment of female sexual function index (FSFI), sociodemographic
characteristics, serum androgen levels, including the total testosterone,
dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), 1-4 delta androstenedione.

Results: There was a 65.7 % incidence of
FSD in all of the participants, with an incidence of 58.8% in the pregnant and
41.2% in the nonpregnant women. There
was no significant difference in the FSFI total scores between the pregnant and
nonpregnant women (p > 0.05).
Moreover, the androgen levels were not different
between the women with sexual dysfunction and those without. The Spearman
correlation test results were significant between the total testosterone level and
the FSFI arousal domain (r=0.167, p <
0.05), FSFI lubrication domain (r=0.264, p
< 0.01), and FSFI total score (r=0.212, p
< 0.01)., as well as between the androstenedione level and FSFI lubrication
domain (r=0.211, p < 0.01), FSFI
orgasm domain (r=0.156, p < 0.05),
and FSFI total score (r=0.174, p <
0.05). In the logistic regression analysis for sexual dysfunction, an increase in the DHEAS level increased the
sexual dysfunction by 0.996-fold. Women with one pregnancy had 3.312-fold
greater sexual dysfunction than those with no pregnancies. Moreover, the women
with more than eight years of education had 0.358 times more sexual dysfunction
than those with eight years of education and less.

Conclusion: The FSFI total scores were not significantly
different between the pregnant and nonpregnant women. However, there were
significant correlations between the total testosterone and androstenedione
levels and the FSFI total scores. Any increases in the DHEAS level and
educational level in women decrease the chance of developing sexual
dysfunction. 

Keywords

Female sexual function index, androgens, pregnancy

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