Female Sexual Dysfunction in a Third Level Health Facility, Southern Nigeria

Background: Observation during our gynaecology consultations does not tend to agree with reviews in literature suggesting high prevalence of sexual dysfunction. With this background, we decided to subject this general observation to scientific scrutiny to determine the proportion of our patients that actually have sexual dysfunction; and thepredisposing risk factors.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and risk factors associated with sexual dysfunction in females attending the gynaecology clinic of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Port Harcourt.

Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional questionnaire based study of 72 females of reproductive age group attending the outpatient gynaecological unit of UPTH. They were interviewed using the Female Sexual Dysfunction Index (FSFI). A total FSFI score of less than 26.5 was indicative of sexual dysfunction. The data were collated and entered into SPSS version23 statistical software which was also used for analysis. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered significant.

Results: The prevalence of sexual dysfunction in females was 61.1% using the FSFI of less than 26.50. The most common type of sexual dysfunction among the respondents was desire disorders (66.7%) followed by disorders of orgasm (62.5%), lubrication (56.9%), arousal (43.1%) and pain (40.3%). Advanced age, higher education, parity and female genital cutting were found to be associated with sexual dysfunction.

Conclusion: The findings in this study showed that a significant number of women in our centre are affected with sexual dysfunction.