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Women with diabetes at greater risk for self-reported sexual dysfunction
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Among men, sexual dysfunction is an established complication of diabetes. Among women, however, little is understood about the association. Now, researchers report that an ethnically diverse cohort of women with diabetes was more likely to report low overall sexual satisfaction vs. women without diabetes.
Researchers used self-administered questionnaires to examine sexual function in a cross-sectional cohort of women aged 40 to 80 years who were ethnically diverse. Among patients treated with insulin, not treated with insulin and those without diabetes, researchers compared self-reported sexual desire; frequency of sexual activity; overall sexual satisfaction; and specific problems, including difficulty with lubrication, arousal, orgasm or pain.
They used other models to study the relationship between diabetic end-organ complications such as heart disease, stroke, renal dysfunction and peripheral neuropathy and sexual function.
The study included 2,270 women with an average age of 55 years. Less than 50% were non-Latina white (44.4%), 21.4% had diabetes and 6.1% were taking insulin.
Compared with women without diabetes (19.3%), 34.9% of those treated with insulin and 26% of those with diabetes not treated with insulin reported low overall sexual function (OR=2.04; 95% CI, 1.32-3.15 for insulin-treated and OR=1.42; 95% CI, 1.03-1.94 for non-insulin-treated).
Women treated with insulin were more likely to report problems with lubrication (OR=2.37; 95% CI, 1.35-1.46) and orgasm (OR=1.80; 95% CI, 1.01-3.20) compared with women without diabetes, the researchers wrote.
End-organ complications were also associated with decreased sexual function in at least one domain among all women with diabetes.
“Prevention of end-organ complications may be important in preserving sexual activity and function in diabetic women,” the researchers wrote.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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