056 Inflammation May Alter Perception of Sexual Arousal and Pleasure in Healthy Women

Abstract

To test if sexual arousal and pleasure (that is, the rewarding affective and cognitive responses to sexual activity) may be differentially impacted by disease cues during ovulation. There is increasing evidence that activation of the immune system can change behavior and cognition in ways that are though to mitigate disease risk, a phenomenon called “behavioral immunity.” For example, individuals who are in a vulnerable immune state (e.g. pregnancy, recent illness) report significantly higher disgust and avoidance of disease cues than non-vulnerable individuals. Recent studies have suggested that ovulation may be such a vulnerable immune state, as the female body temporarily suppresses some aspects of immune response to avoid accidentally rejecting sperm and/or conceptuses. We examined immune activity, and sexual arousal and pleasure in 18 healthy, sexually active women. Participants provided blood samples at menses and at ovulation (confirmed via urine tests for luteinizing hormone); from these, we determined levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of systemic inflammation. Participants also completed diary measures of self-reported sexual arousal and pleasure following each partnered sexual event; these were averaged across the menstrual phase in which they were reported.