Sex Is Important to Many Midlife
Women
Study finds some challenges with sexual function that can be remedied
The mechanics of sex
may become a bit more difficult after menopause, a new study finds. But most
women will continue to be sexually active as long as they feel sex is
important.
The study, published
online Feb. 10 in JAMA Internal Medicine, included 354 women
who ranged in age from their 40s to mid-60s. All of the women reported being
sexually active at the start of the study.
Each year for four
years, researchers queried the women about their menopausal status and physical
health. In the fourth year, women were specifically asked about their sexual
function -- how strong their sex drive was, how easy or difficult it was to
reach orgasm, and whether they had any trouble with arousal or vaginal dryness, or felt pain during intercourse.
After another four
years, about 85 percent of the women continued to be sexually active. Women who
stayed sexually active were more likely to be white, to have a lower body mass
index (be thinner) and to say they felt sex was important.
"Women who felt
that sex was highly important were about three times as likely to continue
having sex as women who thought it was a little or not important," said
study author Dr. Holly Thomas, a general internal medicine fellow at the
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
The good news is
"if you go into midlife still sexually active, chances are, you're going
to continue to be sexually active," Thomas said.
What caught the
researchers off guard was that most women also scored poorly on the test of
sexual function, meaning they reported significant physical difficulties with
sex.
Thomas said that
could mean a couple of things. The first is that the test, which was designed
for premenopausal women, doesn't accurately reflect sexual intimacyat midlife. She thinks that after menopause,
women may place a higher priority on kissing and touching than on intercourse,
and the test they used in the study didn't really capture that.
She said the other
thing it could mean is that women are using sexual aids, like lubricants, to
overcome some of the trouble they have.
One expert on
menopause was not surprised by the new findings.
"I think it
resonates with what many of us have thought all along," said Dr. Margery
Gass, an obstetrician/gynecologist at the Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio. She was
not involved in the study.
"The quality of
sexual activity for women as they age is much more than the sum of the various
physical function components," said Gass, who is also executive director
of the North American Menopause Society.
"That's not to say that there aren't some
women who aren't having a very difficult time, but there are things that can be
done for that," she said
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