Sunday 09 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- A study published in
the July 2008 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine found a high percentage of
women in the United States experience low sexual desire and another study
showed a high dose of testosterone boosts sexual episodes among postmenopausal
women with low libidos.
The first study showed prevalence of low sexual drive
ranged from 26.7 percent among premenopausal women to 52.4 percent among
naturally menopausal women. Of surgically menopausal women, 12.5 percent had
hypoactive sexual desire disorder.
Low sexual drive is associated withlow levels
of arousal and sexual excitement, resulting in infrequentorgasms
and reduced sexual satisfaction.
For the study, Suzanne L and colleagues from the
University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and Procter & Gamble
Pharmaceuticals in Mason, Ohio surveyed 2,207 U.S. women aged 30 to 70 and in
stable relationships that lasted equal or greater than three months for their sexual
desire.
The researchers focused on 755 premenopausal women and
552 naturally and 637 surgically menopausal women. Low sexual desire was
defined using the profile of female sexual function desire domain and HSDD was
defined using the profile of female sexual function and the personal distress
scale.
Suzanne and colleagues concluded that "Prevalence of
low sexual desire is elevated among surgically and naturally menopausal women
vs premenopausal women. Distress about low desire (HSDD) appears to be more
than twice as prevalent among surgically menopausal women vs premenopausal
women, although the estimate is fairly imprecise."
One treatment for low sexual desire in women is use of
testosterone.
Another study published in a
recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine found that 300 micrograms
of this hormone per day for 24 weeks more than doubled sexual episodes or the
frequency of having sex among postmenopausal women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder, a
condition that is caused by a low libido and affects as many as 32% of
the menopausal population
.
But the testosterone patches for women comes with a
risk. Of 534 women receiving the treatment, 4 were diagnosed with breast
cancer during the one-year study compared to one of 277 women in the control
group.
Experts cautioned that many factors affect women’s sexual
activity including autonomic nervous system, testosterone and other sex
hormones, and environmental factors such as mental health, fatigue, quality of
the partner relationship.
Low sexual desire can also result from chronic illness
including diabetes, heart disease, rheumatic conditions, and cancer which can
lead to fatigue, depression, pain, medication, and changes in body image.
For many women, the condition can be just a
result of the natural aging process.
Clinicians should not give postmenopausal women testosterone
patches as a cure-all given that the safety or risk of the treatment remains
uncertain.
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