Female sexual dysfunction in patients with substance-related disorders

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:To estimate the prevalence of female sexual dysfunction symptoms and the associated risk factors in a sample of patients with substance-related disorders admitted to a specialized in-patient care unit.METHODS:This study used a cross-section design, with eight months of data collection, conducted with substance-dependent women using structured questionnaires to collect socio-demographic data and identify their drug of choice. The Drug Abuse Screening Test, Short Alcohol Dependence Data questionnaire, Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence, and Arizona Sexual Experience Scale were also administered.RESULTS:The sample consisted of 105 women who had a mean age of 34.8 years (SD = 12.1, range = 18-65) and were predominantly heterosexual (74.3%), single (47.6%), Caucasian (50.5%), catholic (36.2%), and educated only to the level of primary education (40%), with a monthly family income of up to one minimum salary (37.5%). In 42.9% of the patients, crack was the drug of choice; 47.6% of the sample qualified for the Drug Abuse Screening Test (substantial problems related to drugs), 43.8% exhibited Short Alcohol Dependence Data (moderate or severe dependency), 47.6% exhibited Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (high or very high nicotine dependence). The prevalence of sexual dysfunction symptoms was 34.2% (95% CI = [25.3, 44.1]), and a high level of nicotine dependence and low income increased the chances of having sexual dysfunction by 2.72-fold and 2.54 fold, respectively. An association was also observed between female sexual dysfunction symptoms and schooling and levels of drug dependence.CONCLUSIONS:Female sexual dysfunction symptoms were common among this sample and primarily associated with high levels of nicotine use.

An international systematic review of smoking prevalence in addiction treatment

“…Where papers drew clients from two modalities, they were coded to whichever category represented more than half of the patients involved in the paper . Two papers reporting cocaine as the primary drug treated were grouped in the ‘alcohol and other drug’ category .…”

Does pelvic floor muscle training improve female sexual function? A systematic review

“…Sexual dysfunction significantly affects a woman's quality of life and self-esteem [4]. Several risk factors to the development of female sexual dysfunction have been identified in the literature, including postmenopausal status, long-term relationship with the partner, diabetes, pregnancy, alcohol consumption, nicotine use, pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and urinary incontinence (UI) [5][6][7][8]. Treatment of any aetiological factor may improve a woman's sexual function (SF).…”

Comportamientos sexuales de riesgo en pacientes brasileños dependientes de drogas no inyectables

“…The severity scale has been used in several studies, and measures of reliability and validity have been reported to be satisfactory in all the versions for utilization as a clinical and/or research tools (Yudko, Lozhkina & Fouts, 2007). In the latter study, the Cronbach's alpha of DAST was 0.92, which indicates excellent internal consistency (Diehl, Silva, & Laranjeira, 2013).…”

“…We acknowledge that the selection of the DAST might represent another limitation in the present study. However, it is worth emphasizing that the Cronbach's alpha of this tool was 0.92 in a previous study conducted by our group (Diehl et al, 2013), which indicates excellent internal consistency. Additionally, in the present study, none of the scales data were represented as continuous variables.…”

“…Interestingly, the present study found an association between FTND scores and the sexually vulnerable groups. As a rule, studies tend to focus on the relationship between smoking and sexual dysfunction, while the association of the former with high-risk sexual behavior has scarcely been addressed (Diehl et al, 2013;Zaazaa, Bella, & Shamloul, 2013). That scarcity notwithstanding, there are reports in the literature on the correlation between the exposure of oral mucosa to tobacco, which causes abrasions and makes it susceptible to human papilloma virus (HPV), and impaired reproductive health (Kazemi et al, 2013;Zil-A-Rubab et al, 2013).…”