The following is a summary of “Sleep Disorders Are Associated with Female Sexual Desire and Genital Response – A U.S. Claims Database Analysis,” published in the FEBRUARY 2023 issue of Urology by Agrawal, et al.

For a study, researchers sought to investigate the association between sleep disorders (insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, and circadian rhythm sleep disorder) and female sexual dysfunction.

The TriNetX Diamond Network was used in our cross-sectional investigation. To ascertain the correlation between female sexual dysfunction, hypoactive sexual desire disorder, female orgasmic disorder, and female sexual arousal disorder in adult women, those diagnosed with insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, or circadian rhythm sleep disorder underwent evaluation. A control cohort with propensity-score matching was created, excluding anyone with any sleep disorders, sleep deprivation, or morbid obesity with alveolar hypoventilation. In addition, the control cohort was matched for age, race, ethnicity, tobacco use, outpatient service utilization, obesity, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, hypertensive disease, and surgical procedures on the female genital system. The use of any antidepressant or antipsychotic medication was prohibited for all cohorts.

The study included 1,317,491 women with sleep apnea, 1,538,567 with insomnia, and 58,902 with circadian rhythm sleep disorder. Women with sleep apnea and insomnia had higher odds of hypoactive sexual desire disorder, female sexual arousal disorder, and female orgasmic disorder than matched controls. In addition, women with three sleep disorders had significantly higher odds of female sexual dysfunction than matched controls.

The study found a strong association between sleep disorders and female sexual dysfunction. Therefore, healthcare providers should consider screening for sleep disorders when evaluating female patients with sexual dysfunction to identify and treat sleep disorders that may impact overall health.

Source: goldjournal.net/article/S0090-4295(22)00990-6/fulltext