The sexual health approach in postmenopause: The five-minutes study

Abstract

Objectives: To determine whether actively addressing sexuality in a gynaecological consultation with menopausal patients improves the diagnosis of sexual problems.

Study design: A multi-centre analytical cross-sectional study was conducted at 12 Spanish hospitals. In gynaecological consultations the usual medical histories were taken, except that, initially, issues relating to sexuality were omitted, unless the patients raised them. Then, after 5min, gynaecologists offered the possibility of talking about sexuality and asked about possible sexual problems. Main outcome measures Observed prevalence of sexual problems.

Results: A total of 256 postmenopausal women participated in the study. Of them, 12.1% reported a sexual problem during the first 5 minutes of the interview. The prevalence of patients with a sexual problem increased by 35.9% (from 12.1% to 48.0%) when they were asked about sexuality after 5min (p<0.0001). The main factors associated with having a sexual problem were genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM) and having a stable sexual partner.

Conclusions: Asking postmenopausal women about sexuality in gynaecological consultations is an important tool that increases the number of diagnoses of sexual problems. Gynaecologists should routinely ask about sexuality.

Keywords: Medical history taking; Menopause; Sexual dysfunction.