Effects of sexual function of essential hypertensions in women

Background: Hypertension, one of the increasingly common chronic diseases, is reported to be an important factor in the formation of sexual dysfunction (SD) due to the physiopathological changes it creates in the vascular endothelial structure. The evaluation of the sexual functions of hypertensive women is regarded as a significant consideration in the improvement of women's health and quality of life. Aim: This study was carried out in order to identify the sexual functions of essential hypertensive women. Methods: The study was an experimental design. 71 essential hypertensive women with no other chronic disease formed the experimental group, whereas randomly selected 85 healthy married women who hadn't had menopause and didn't have any known chronic disease formed the control group. The research data were collected by "Personal Information Forms I-II", and "Female Sexual Function Index". Results: In the study hypertensive women's overall mean score of FSFI was found to be significantly lower than that of healthy women's (p<0.001). 90% of hypertensive women and 41% of healthy women were found to have SD. It was determined that in the women constituting both groups, age increase raises SD occurrence frequency; however, with the increase in education and income level sexual life related problems decrease. It was also determined that increase in body mass index and duration of disorder raise SD occurrence frequency in women. Conclusion: It was concluded that sexual dysfunction is observed in hypertensive women more frequently than healthy women and that essential hypertension affects female sexual functions significantly. (C) 2010 European Society of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.