Washington, May 4 (Inditop.com) Women taking non-oral and oral hormonal contraceptives were at highest risk of Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD), says a new study.
FSD covers low desire, inability to maintain arousal during such activity, or no arousal despite a desire to have sex, inability to experience orgasm, pain during sexual contact etc.
Interestingly, women taking non-hormonal contraceptives were at lowest risk for FSD, more than women not using any contraceptive.
“Sexual problems can have a negative impact on both quality of life and emotional well-being, regardless of age,” said researcher Lisa-Maria Wallwiener of the University of Heidelberg, Germany.
“FSD is a very common disorder, with an estimated prevalence of about two in five women having at least one sexual dysfunction, and the most common complaint appearing to be low desire.”
“The causes of FSD are multifunctional and in recent years the possible role of hormonal contraception has been discussed,” said fellow researchers Christian and Markus Wallwiener, University of Tuebingen, Germany.
“Women tend to be aware that sexual dysfunction is often influenced by various factors such as stress and relationships, but our study has shown it might also be influenced by exogenous (external) hormone application.”
As many as 1,086 women were included in the study (roughly 2.5 percent of the overall female medical student population in Germany), who completed questionnaires designed to identify problems with sexual function, as well as other lifestyle factors including desire for children, pregnancy and whether they were smokers.
“There are hundreds of millions of women, in particular young women at the beginning of their sexual lives, who regularly use hormonal contraception for many years.”
“The irony is that these women are provided a medication that enables freedom from reproductive worries but these same women are not provided information that there are significant adverse sexual effects that may ensue,” added Goldstein.
These findings were published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.
