Sexual dysfunction in obese and overweight women

Abstract

Both overweight and obesity have been identified as risk factors for sexual dysfunction in men, but the relationship between sexual function and amount of body fat in females is still obscure. There are few reported studies in women assessing the relationship between female sexual function index (FSFI) and body weight. The aim of this study was to identify the frequency of female sexual dysfunction (FSD) among obese and overweight women. A total of 45 obese and overweight and 30 age-matched voluntary healthy women serving as a control group were evaluated by a detailed medical and sexual history, including the FSFI questionnaire. Serum prolactin, cortisol, luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), dehydroepiandrosterone-SO(4) (DHEA-S), testosterone, estradiol and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) levels were measured. No significant difference was observed between controls and patients in terms of the FSH, LH, estradiol, free thyroxine and thyrotropin (TSH), testosterone and DHEA-S levels. The comparison of total FSFI scores between patients and controls showed no significant difference (P=0.74). As the FSFI score of <or=26.55 indicated FSD, 86% of obese patients and 83% of controls were considered to have sexual dysfunction. The mean total FSFI score was 22.1+/-4.3 for obese patients and 23.1+/-3.7 for healthy women. FSFI scores were not correlated with any of the anthropometric measurements (body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and fat percent). The levels of total testosterone and DHEA-S were not correlated with total FSFI scores. We found a significant negative correlation between BMI and orgasm (P=0.007, r=-0.413). Satisfaction was also negatively correlated with BMI (P=0.05, r=-0.305) and weight (P=0.03, r=-0.326). Testosterone levels were negatively correlated with only satisfaction domain scores of FSFI (P=0.01, r=-0.385). We found that 86% of obese women and 83% of controls had sexual dysfunction. Although obesity does not seem to be a major contributor to sexual dysfunction, it affects several aspects of sexuality.