Gender differences in sex life issues - a population-based study of migraine sufferers.
BACKGROUND
Migraine is considered to have a negative influence on sex life. The present study was to analyse the perceptions of importance of and satisfaction with sex life as well as the expression of interest in sex among people having migraines in a prospective follow-up mail survey in 1998 and 2003.


METHODS
The random sample was stratified according to gender and age in four age groups (20-24, 30-34, 40-44, and 50-54 years). Altogether 25 898 individuals responded to the baseline and 19 626 to the follow-up questionnaire (75.8% response rate). We examined as to how the perceptions of sex life of those suffering from migraine changed during a 5-year follow-up. Conditional logistic regression was used to analyse the data of the responses on self-reported migraine in the baseline and follow-up surveys (N = 2 977, 79.2% women). Each person with migraine was assigned a gender- and age-matched control in the analysis.


RESULTS
All three outcome variables tended to decrease in value. Importance of sex life was higher among men with migraine than among their controls. Among women migraine lessened interest in sex life.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggested that migraine has a different impact on sex life among women from that among men.
Sumanen
Markku P T
MP
University of Tampere, Medical School, Finland. markku.sumanen@uta.fi
Ojanlatva
Ansa
A
Rantala
Anna
A
Sillanmäki
Lauri H
LH
Mattila
Kari J
KJ
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007989:Libido; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D008875:Middle Aged; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires