Effects of infertility and infertility duration on female sexual functions

Objective

The objective was to evaluate the effects of infertility and its duration on female sexual functions.

Materials and methods

One-hundred and seventy-four (21.5 %) primary infertile cases, who attended the infertility outpatient clinic of our hospital, with a mean age of 31.2 ± 3.8 (range 20–45), have been determined as study group. In addition, 635 (78.5 %) cases with a mean age of 32 ± 3.2 (range 17–45) years, which attended the gynecology outpatient clinic with various complaints, were included as the control group. Infertile cases were grouped into three according to infertility duration: less than 2 years (Group I), 2–5 years (Group II), and 5 years and longer (Group III). Sexual dysfunction was evaluated via Turkish version of female sexual function index (FSFI) in the women who accepted to participate in this research.

Results

All the 809 cases incorporated in our study were found to be at risk for sexual dysfunction. Upon comparison between infertile and fertile groups, no meaningful statistical difference was determined within the scores of desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, sexual satisfaction, pain and total FSFI parameters (p > 0.05). The assessment on infertility durations showed that only sexual satisfaction scores were similar, whereas all other parameter scores and total FSFI scores were different significantly between all three groups. The scores got meaningfully lower as infertility duration of the couples extends (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

As the infertility duration extends, the scores of all parameters, except sexual satisfaction, decreases. But as many factors play a role in female sexual dysfunction, to blame prolonged infertility as a situation that negatively affects female sexual life, prospectively designed studies should be performed.