Sexual dysfunction in climacteric women of African descent from the Colombian Caribbean region

Abstract

Introduction: After the United States and Brazil, Colombia is the third American country with the greatest population of African descent.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of sexual dysfunction (SD) in climacteric women of African descent.

Methods: Cross sectional study carried out with the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), in healthy women, whose mother and father were of black race, living in municipalities from the Colombian Caribbean region, who volunteered to anonymously participate in the study, and were recruited in their communities. Higher scores correlated with better sexuality.

Results: 461 women were studied; 305 (66.2%) with sexual activity; 70.8% were premenopausal and 29.2%, postmenopausal. Average scores of the domains were: Sexual desire (4.1 ± 1.1), sexual arousal (4.4 ± 1.0), lubrication (4.9 ± 1.0), orgasm (4.7 ± 1.0), satisfaction (5.3 ± 1.0) and pain (4.3 ± 1.5). Average total score was 27.7 ± 4.7. Prevalence of SD was 38.4%. Smoking (OR: 3.3 [IC95%: 1.0-10.6; p = 0.041] and arterial hypertension (OR: 2.2 [IC95%:1.1-4.4; p = 0.026] increased the risk of SD, while schooling higher than ten years (OR: 0.4 [IC95%: 0.2-0.8; p = 0.003] decreased it. Prevalence of SD increased with the change in the menopausal status (p <0,001). All domains deteriorated, except pain, with the transition to the postmenopausal status (p <0.001).

Conclusion: In females of African descent from the Colombian Caribbean region, one third of the premenopausal and half of the postmenopausal have SD.