The prevalence of female sexual dissatisfaction and the dominant risk factors that may impair sexual satisfaction in Malaysian women

Abstract

The  study  aims  were  to  investigate  the  prevalence  of  sexual dissatisfaction and  the  potential  risk  factors.This  was a  cross-sectional study  on  women  attending primary  care  setting  in  Malaysia over  a  period  of March  to  June  2005,  and  used  a  non-probability sampling  method. A  validated  questionnaire  for  sexual  function  was  used.A  total  of  230  married  women aged  21–62 years  old participated in this study. The ressults show that the majority of the respondents were less than 45 years old, predominantly Malays, and  with  higher  academic  achievement.  We  noted  that    52.2%  (120/230)  study  subjects  had  sexual    dissatisfaction.  Race,  salary, education level, medical problems, dysmenorrhea, and menacrhe were likely not correlated with sexual  dissatisfaction. The dominant risk  factor  related  to  sexual    dissatisfaction  was  age  of  husband.  In  additional,  sexual    dissatisfaction  was  moderately  (P=0.077) related to sexual  per month. The subjects who had their husbands aged 43-75 years compared with 24-42 years had 68% increased risk to experience sexual  dissatisfaction [adjusted relative risk (RRa = 1.68; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.15 -2.44]. In term of sexual  frequency per month, those who had 1-3times per month than 4-5 times per month had two-fold increased risk to experience sexual  dissatisfaction (RRa = 2.03; 95% CI = 0.93-4.42; p = 0.077).In conclusion, the prevalence of sexual dissatisfaction was very high  in  Malaysian  primary  care  population  and  it  was  strongly  associated  with  women  who  married  to  an  older  husband  and  with infrequent sexual activity. (Med J Indones 2007; 16:187-94)