NEW YORK — Women with sexual dysfunction are more likely to have decreased tactile sensation in the genital area, according to researchers.
“Our data suggest that pudendal nerve impairment may play a role in sexual dysfunction in women,” Dr. Kathleen Connell and colleagues write in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
However, causes of this nerve abnormality remain unclear, Connell of Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut told, Reuters Health. “I think it’s an area that we have to explore further because we don’t have any good explanations. It’s still sort of an enigma.”
The researchers used a technique called quantitative sensory testing to assess the functioning of the nerves in the genital region, i.e., pudendal nerves, identifying the threshold at which women were able to sense pressure as well as the difference between vibration and static touch.
Women also completed a questionnaire to evaluate sexual function. Of the 56 women in the study, 48 percent reported one or more types of sexual dysfunction. The remaining 52 percent, who had no sexual difficulties, acted as a control group.
The researchers divided the women into four groups based on type of sexual problem. These were desire dysfunction, arousal dysfunction, orgasmic dysfunction and pain dysfunction. Roughly one in four of these women had more than one type of sexual dysfunction.
Women who reported total sexual dysfunction had decreased tactile sensitivity at the clitoris, the researchers found, and decreased clitoral sensitivity also was identified in the arousal and desire dysfunction groups. Women with arousal dysfunction also had decreased sensation in the perineum.
Female sexual dysfunction is extremely difficult to study, Connell noted. However, she added that the findings mean that physicians can suggest options for affected women, such as trying longer or stronger stimulation or using different types of stimulation.
Moreover, she concluded, “Sometimes patients just need to know that it’s not just in their head.”
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SOURCE: American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, May 2005.
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