Sexual attitudes of Turkish population during the COVID-19 outbreak

INTRODUCTION: During the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the psychological and mental conditions of the society worsen. The aim of this study is to examine the changes in their sex lives due to the Turkish COVID-19 outbreak. METHOD: This online survey was conducted between April and June 2020 with 468 patients admitted to the hospital. After the approval was given, an online questionnaire was sent from the hospital database and from the social media accounts of health institutions (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc.) and e-mail addresses. The first part of the four-part questionnaire included demographic data, the second and third parts of attitudes before and after COVID-19, and the last part to assess sexual functions, sleep, anxiety and depression. RESULTS: The study was completed with a total of 390 participants. The response rate of the study is 83.33%. Sexual desires of healthcare workers (3.78 ± 1.03 vs. 3.07 ± 1.11; p <0.001), weekly sexual intercourse / masturbation number (2.58 ± 1.01 vs. 1.18 ± 1.01; p <0.001), duration of foreplay (19.27 ± 11.28 vs.10.12 ± 11.04; p <0.001), duration of sexual intercourse (24.65 ± 15.67 vs. 14.25 ± 15, 63; p <0.001) decreased compared to before the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition, participants preferred less foreplay (p <0.001), less oral sex (p <0.001) and anal sex (p: 0.007), and more non-face-to-face positions during COVID-19 (p <0.001) . When the factors affecting sexual dysfunction were examined as univariate and multivariate, it was shown that sexual dysfunction was significantly more common in male gender (OR: 2.048) and alcohol users (OR: 3.836). The shortcoming of the study is that the pre-COVID-19 sexual and mental states of the participants were not assessed with the validated questionnaire. CONCLUSION: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the public's sexual desire decreased, the number of sexual intercourse decreased, the duration of foreplay was reduced, and the preference to be face-to-face in sexual intercourse positions decreased. DISCLOSURE: Work supported by industry: no.