Yale researchers investigate the cause of female sexual dysfunction
Story originally posted on August 10, 2005
An interesting new study involving 56 participants conducted by the Yale School of Medicine and the Alberta Einstein College of Medicine has recently found that “female sexual dysfunction” or “FSD” affects up to 48 percent of the female population. Past epidemiological research has shown that at least 10 million women between the ages of 50-74 report symptoms of sexual dysfunction such as the inability to climax, lack of sex drive, and heightened levels of pain when making love. However, this new study looked at women within a forty year age span.
Two key reasons found as a result of this current study were; firstly a diminished amount of sensation to the clitoris, which in turn leads to some form of sexual dysfunction. These findings point researchers to a neurological reason behind FSD.
Going on the hunch that FSD could be based upon neurological problems the team focused on the pudendal nerve. This nerve guides nerve fibres to the pelvic floor muscles and is also accountable for generalized sensation in the genital area. Any change, deterioration or injury to this area could potentially cause a breakdown of this system and lead to FSD.
In order to access the participants of the study, the researchers provide them with a validated screening questionnaire. The participants ranged in age from 18 through 68, and all were tested with pressure, sensation and vibration in the genital area.
Surprisingly the team found that a hair under fifty percent of the woman they monitored and studied reported some level of sexual dysfunction, and of those with FSD over 23 percent reported having more than one form of FSD (overlapping forms).
This study is a much needed stepping stone into understanding how and why FSD occurs, as well as investigating new ways to combat and treat this very real problem. While this study was not focused on IC, the results are indeed of interest to IC researchers as many patients with IC report a wide range of sexually related problems, pain and decreased libido. Involvement of the prudential nerve could also be tied into the fact that so many ICers also have overlapping pelvic floor muscle issues.
Information resources:
American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Vol. 192, No. 5 (May 2005).