Association of Body Weight and Female Sexual Dysfunction: A Case Control Study

BACKGROUND: Obesity is rapidly increasing worldwide with negative effects on women’s health, psychosocial factors and quality of life. Female sexual dysfunction (FSD) is a major public health problem that is worrying for many women physically, emotionally and socially. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of body weight with FSD and sexual satisfaction, in Ilam, western Iran, in 2010 to 2011. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a case-control study on 120 women aged 18–50 years [64 with FSD (case), 64 without FSD (control)] married, from Ilam-IR, who were interviewed as per the Iranian version of Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). Body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) were recorded by researchers. The subjects were randomly selected from primary health centers. RESULTS: FSFI score was significantly lower in overweight women (P < 0.05). FSFI strongly correlated with body mass index (BMI) (r = -0.68, P < 0.001) and waist-to-hip ratio (r = -0.29, P < 0.05) in women with FSD. Of sexual function parameters, there was a strong and inverse correlation between BMI and arousal (r = -0.71, P < 0.001), lubrication (r = -0.61, P < 0.001), orgasm (r = -0.52, P < 0.001) and satisfaction (r = -0.54, P < 0.001), while pain (r = -0.12, P > 0.05) and desire (r = -0.17, P > 0.05) did not correlate with BMI. There was an association between BMI and extreme satisfaction (r = -0.28, P < 0.05). Extreme physical pleasure (r = -0.19, P > 0.05) and extreme emotional satisfaction (r = -0.16, P > 0.05) were not correlated with BMI. CONCLUSIONS: Overweight and obesity negative affect sexuality in women with sexual dysfunction. A systematic evaluation of sexual function to disclose a cause and effect relationship between obesity and FSD is suggested.