Climacteric. 2007 Apr;10(2):132-42.
Correlates of sexual functioning among mid-life women.
Gallicchio L, Schilling C, Tomic D, Miller SR, Zacur H, Flaws JA.
Prevention and Research Center, Weinberg Center for Women's Health & Medicine,
Mercy Medical Center. Baltimore. Maryland.
Objective: Studies have reported a decline in sexual functioning among women undergoing the menopausal transition.
Few studies, however, have examined the associations between hormones and sexual dysfunction during this time
period. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the associations between participant characteristics
and endogenous hormones with sexual functioning in mid-life women.
Methods: Data were analyzed from a community-based sample of 441 women aged 45-54 years who stated that
they were sexually active at the time of the study. Each participant completed a survey that included
questions pertaining to sexual functioning and provided a blood sample that was used to measure estrogen
and androgen concentrations.
Results: Among women who reported being sexually active, poorer self-reported
health and the experiencing of depressive symptoms were significantly associated with not being satisfied
with sexual relations after adjustment for other covariates. None of the hormones examined were significantly
associated with overall sexual satisfaction. However, statistically significant associations between both total
testosterone levels and the free testosterone index with satisfaction with the frequency of sexual relations were
observed.
Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the experiencing of depressive symptoms and the reporting of
poor overall health are important correlates of sexual dysfunction. Further, our results suggest that higher
total and free testosterone levels are significantly associated with a desire for increased frequency of
sexual relations among mid-life women.
PMID: 17453861 [PubMed - in process]
Dr. Gordon:
Depression and feeling ill accompany a loss of sexuality, all symptoms of testosterone deficiency.
