Distressing sexual problems in United States women revisited: prevalence after accounting for depression.
OBJECTIVE
With data from the population-based Prevalence of Female Sexual Problems Associated with Distress and Determinants of Treatment Seeking (PRESIDE) study, which has previously estimated the prevalence of sexual problems and sexually related personal distress in United States women, the prevalence of sexual disorders of desire, arousal, and orgasm was re-estimated, taking concurrent depression into consideration.


METHODS
Current depression was defined in 3 ways as (1) self-reported symptoms alone, (2) antidepressant medication use alone, or (3) symptoms and/or antidepressant use. The unadjusted population prevalence for each distressing sexual problem in the 31,581 respondents was calculated first irrespective of concurrent depression and then in women without concurrent depression, thus determining the size of the population with both conditions present.


RESULTS
The unadjusted population-based prevalence of desire disorder was 10.0% and was reduced to 6.3% for those without concurrent depression, leading to an estimate of 3.7% for those with both conditions present. The same pattern was observed for arousal and orgasm disorders, although overall prevalence estimates were lower.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings indicate that about 40% of those with a sexual disorder of desire, arousal, or orgasm have concurrent depression, As this study was cross-sectional, causality versus comorbidity cannot be determined. However, our findings stress the importance of evaluating depression along with sexual problems in routine clinical practice and epidemiology research.
Department of Pharmacoepidemiology and Risk Management, Research Triangle Institute (RTI) Health Solutions, Waltham, Massachusetts 02451, USA. cjohannes@rti.org
Catherine B
CB
Johannes
Anita H
AH
Clayton
Dawn M
DM
Odom
Raymond C
RC
Rosen
Patricia A
PA
Russo
Jan L
JL
Shifren
Brigitta U
BU
Monz
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007989:Libido; D009948:Orgasm; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D020018:Sexual Dysfunctions, Psychological / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
D000928:Antidepressive Agents