(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Many women may have sexual problems, but that doesn't mean it bothers them.
A new study from Massachusetts General Hospital finds while about 40 percent of women report having sexual problems, only 12 percent say those issues affect their quality of life.
Researchers surveyed 32,000 women aged 18 to over 100 from across the United States to measure the level of distress related to their sex life. More than 40 percent of respondents said they had some level of sexual problem -- with 39 percent reporting low levels of desire, 26 percent had problems with arousal and 21 percent said they had difficulties with orgasm. Only 12 percent of women reported distress related to any of these problems.
The prevalence of sexual problems was highest in women over 65 but that group reported the lowest levels of distress. Women aged 45 to 64 reported distress the most frequently. Those aged 18 to 44 had lower levels of both distress and sexual problems. Women with depression were more than twice as likely to report distress over any type of sexual problem as those who didn't have depression.
"While distressing sexual problems are much less common in women than sexual problems overall, they still affect approximately one in eight adult women," lead author Jan Shifren, M.D., Massachusetts General Hospital, was quoted as saying. "As part of a thorough health assessment, it's important that health care providers ask their female patients if they have sexual concerns and if those problems are associated with distress."
The study did not look at treatments for sexual problems, but Shifren wants women to know there are effective options available including relationship counseling, treatment of associated medical conditions and sex therapy.
SOURCE: Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2008;112
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