BMJ  2003;327:423 (23 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7412.423

Primary care

Problems with sexual function in people attending London general practitioners: cross sectional study

Irwin Nazareth, professor of primary care and population sciences1, Petra Boynton, research fellow2, Michael King, professor of primary care psychiatry2

1 Department of Primary Care and Population Sciences, Royal Free and University College Medical School, London NW3 2PF, 2 Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Royal Free and University College Medical School

Correspondence to: I Nazareth i.nazareth{at}pcps.ucl.ac.uk

Objectives To assess sexual behaviour, prevalence of ICD-10 diagnosed sexual dysfunction, associations between sexual and psychological problems, and help seeking for sexual problems in people attending general practice; to assess predictors of ICD-10 diagnosis of sexual dysfunction.

Design Cross sectional study.

Setting 13 general practices in London.

Participants 1065 women and 447 men attending general practices.

Main outcome measure Prevalence and predictors of ICD-10 diagnoses of sexual dysfunction.

Results 97 (22%, 95% confidence interval 18% to 25%) men and 422 (40%, 37% to 43%) women received at least one ICD-10 diagnosis, but only 3-4% had an entry relating to sexual problems in their general practice notes. The most common problems were erectile failure and lack or loss of sexual desire in men and lack or loss of sexual desire and failure of orgasmic response in women. Increasing age and being unemployed predicted sexual problems in women, and bisexual orientation, being non-white, and being unemployed were demographic predictors in men. No practice note factors predicted sexual problems in women, but high consulting rate predicted problems in men. The main clinical predictors were poor physical function and dissatisfaction with current sex life in both sexes and higher psychological morbidity in women. When all factors were considered, increasing age (odds ratio 1.01, 1.00 to 1.02), physical subscale score on the SF-12 (0.98, 0.97 to 0.99), sexual dissatisfaction (1.9, 1.5 to 2.4), and scoring over a 3/4 threshold score on the general health questionnaire (1.5, 1.1 to 1.9) independently predicted an ICD-10 sexual dysfunction diagnosis in women. Being bisexual (4.1, 1.3 to 12.8) was the only independent predictor of an ICD-10 diagnosis in men.

Conclusions Sexual difficulties are common in people attending general practitioners, and many people are prepared to talk about them with their doctors.


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