Sexual dysfunction is common and overlooked in female patients with hypertension.
Our objective was to investigate sexual activity, behavior, dysfunction, and satisfaction in hypertensive women. Sixty-seven patients with a mean age of 60.4 years completed a detailed questionnaire. Of these women, 81.3% had a sex partner; 42.6% had untreated sexual dysfunction with a duration of more than 5 years in 70.9% and a duration of more than 10 years in 41.7%; 5.3% initiated sexual activity; 36.6% reported less sexual activity than desired; and 54.8% reported sexual activity as important. Our study revealed highly prevalent untreated sexual dysfunction of long duration. It also showed low frequency of sexual activity in spite of the high availability of partners. There was low frequency of initiation of sexual activity. In spite of the high prevalence of sexual dysfunction, more than a third of patients reported sexual activity to be less than desired, and more than half of patients reported sexual activity as important.
Burchardt
Martin
M
Department of Urology, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, New York, USA.
Burchardt
Tatjana
T
Anastasiadis
Aristotelis G
AG
Kiss
Alexander J
AJ
Baer
Leslie
L
Pawar
Rahul V
RV
de la Taille
Alexandre
A
Shabsigh
Ahmad
A
Ghafar
Mohamed A
MA
Shabsigh
Ridwan
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D015995:Prevalence; D012735:Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires