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An Australian study believed to be the biggest of its kind to examine sexual function and sexually related personal distress in women aged 40-69 revealed a big increase in symptoms of female sexual dysfunction as women start the menopausal transition – known as perimenopause.
Symptoms of dysfunction included problems with sexual desire, arousal and orgasm. Low sexual desire (13.3 per cent), impaired arousal (13.1 per cent) and poor sexual self-image (12.8 per cent) were the most prevalent sexual dysfunctions.
The fact that 25 per cent reported poor sexual self-image without a physical dysfunction implied other factors in their lives were affecting their sexual wellbeing in their midlife.
Half of participants said they had “sexually related personal distress”, and women were more likely to be distressed by a sexual dysfunction if they were partnered.
Of the 29 per cent of women aged 55-59 who had low desire, only about half of them were distressed by it.
The authors of the Monash University study, published in The Lancet on Thursday, found that, contrary to the messages being promoted by some menopause influencers, the increase in sexual dysfunction causing distress among women in their 40s did not coincide with a drop in levels of testosterone in the blood.
The average age of menopause (the end of ovulation and periods) in Australia is 51, late perimenopause is considered the few years before it. The average woman goes into perimenopause in her mid-40s.
[Ed: Hmm. I wonder if the “other factors” impacting women’s sexual wellbeing might include men?]
Source: Women experience sexual dysfunction in menopause, but testosterone is not the answer