title: The prevalence of dyspareunia.
abstract: A questionnaire regarding sexual experience and dyspareunia was sent to 428 women, of whom 324 (75.7%) responded. Ten refused to participate and one had never had heterosexual intercourse, leaving 313 evaluable responders. One hundred twenty-two (39.0%) had never had dyspareunia and 86 (27.5%) had had dyspareunia at some point in their lives which resolved, either spontaneously or with specific treatment. One hundred five women (33.5%) still had dyspareunia at the time of the survey, 51 of whom had had dyspareunia for their entire active sexual lives. Twenty-two (21%) rarely had dyspareunia, 58 (55.2%) occasionally had discomfort, and 25 (23.8%) had dyspareunia frequently or virtually all the time. Frequency of intercourse was not different among any of the groups analyzed, although 49 (48.0%) of the women reported a decrease in sexual frequency and 35 (33.7%) reported an important adverse effect on their relationships as a result of dyspareunia. Most of the women had not discussed their dyspareunia with a health care professional and were unaware of the cause of their problem.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Nassau County Medical Center, East Meadow, New York.
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Glatt
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Zinner
authors.forename: W M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: McCormack
mesh_terms: D003075:Coitus; D004414:Dyspareunia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence