The Relationship between Sexual Dysfunctions and Depression in Premenopausal Women

Aims: To evaluate SD in depressed married premenopausal women and to study mood in married women with primary sexual complain.

Study Design: Cross-sectional case control research.

Place and Duration of Study: Neuropsychiatry and Obstetrics and Gynecology departments at Tanta University Hospital. The study was conducted from April 2019 to the end of March 2020.

Methodology: This research involved 300 females. Subjects were allocated into three equal groups: group 1(females with major depressive disorders who met DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for Major depressive disorders and were drug naïve, group 2: females with primary sexual complain and/or disorders and group 3: normal healthy female did not have history of medical or psychiatric diseases. All cases were subjected to psychiatric interview by Arabic version of MINI, Arabic version of the female sexual index, Hamilton depression scale, Hamilton anxiety scale, quality of life (QOL) assessment and modified Fahmy and Sherbini scale for socioeconomic study.

Results: There was positive significant correlations between female sexual index and Hamilton depression and anxiety score (p <0.001, p=0.012 respectively). There were negative significant correlations between female sexual index and physical, Psychological, social domains and total score of modified Fahmy& Sherbiny scale (p=0.073, 0.039, 0.003, 0.009) respectively.

Conclusion: Severity of depression is correlated to severity of SD among female cases with major depressive disorder. QOL is affected significantly by depression and by presence of sexual complaints and/or disorders among women as high incidence of SD in women with probable depression and is linked with significantly worse QOL.