The prevalence of genital arousal disorder during sexual activity and potential risk factors that may impair genital arousal among Malaysian women

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of genital arousal disorder and the potential risk factors that may impair genital arousal among women at a primary care setting in Malaysia. Methods: A validated questionnaire for sexual function was used to assess genital arousal function. A total of 230 married women aged 18–70 years old participated in this study. Their sociodemographic and marital profiles were compared between those who had genital arousal disorder and those who did not. The risk factors were examined. Results: The prevalence of genital arousal disorder in the primary care population was 50.4% (116/230). Women with genital arousal disorder were found to be significantly higher in groups of more than 45 years old (p .001), among the non-Malay (p=.01), those with lower academic status (p=.025), those married for more than 14 years (p=.001), those married to older husbands (aged 55) (p =.001), those having 4 children or more (p=.028), those having less sexual intercourse (less than 1–2 times a week) (p=.001), and those at post-menopausal state (p=.002). There was no significant difference between these two groups in term of salary (p=.29), suffering from medical problems (p=.32), dysmenorrhea (p=.95), menarche (p=.5) and hormonal replacement therapy (p=.6). Conclusion: Women with infrequent sexual intercourse are less likely to be sexually aroused (OR=0.29, 95% CI: 0.11-0.74)