Objectives: Sexuality is an essential part of every woman’s life. Information about female
sexuality is scant in Egypt and many other Islamic countries due to cultural barriers. Thus,
epidemiological investigations regarding the prevalence and risk factors of female sexual
dysfunction (FSD) are limited. We aimed at being the first to assess the prevalence and possible
risk factors of FSD among a sample of married Egyptian women from the Nile Delta
region in Egypt. Methods: Participants of this cross-sectional descriptive hospital-based study
were 5,600 married women 18–59 years’ old attending the Dermatology and Andrology and
Family planning outpatient clinic of Benha University Hospitals and/or their relatives. Female
Genital Mutilation was assessed using the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) questionnaire.
Data were analyzed using appropriate methods used for statistical purposes. Results:
On evaluating sexual function, desire and orgasm were the most affected domains.
Considering the total FSFI score of 26.55 was the cutoff value for the diagnosis of FSD,
45.6% of studied participants were suffering from sexual dysfunction versus 54.6 who had
normal sexual functioning (p¼0.003). Logistic regression analysis was conducted for prediction
of factors associated with sexual dysfunction using age, duration of marriage, education
level, residence, and female genital mutilation as covariates. Older age, longer duration of
the marriage, lower educational level, female genital mutilation, older male partner age,
male erection, and ejaculation problems were associated with sexual dysfunction in univariable
and multivariable analyses, respectively. Conclusions: The current study is one of the
first attempts to evaluate the prevalence of FSD among married women from the Nile Delta
of Egypt. It was revealed that FSD was highly prevalent among studied participants.
Combined female participant and male partner factors were significantly associated with the
high prevalence of this problem |
