Sexual dysfunction: Prevalence and relationship with depression and other socio-demographic factors among the type 2 diabetic women of Pakistan

Objective: To find the association between sexual dysfunction and depressive symptoms among type 2 diabetic women. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, from November 2017 to October 2018, and comprised diabetic women reporting for routine follow-up. Female sexual function index was used to assess the sexual function of the subjects. The presence of depressive symptoms was assessed using the Beck depressive inventory-II. Relationship of age, duration of diabetes, depression, education, level of family income and type of treatment was assessed with sexual dysfunction. Data was analysed using SPSS 23. Results: Of the 250 subjects, 104(41.6%) were aged <40 years. Overall, 89(35.6%) women had no sexual problem, while 161(64.5%) had significant dysfunction. Also, 179(71.6%) patients had depressive symptoms, while 69(28.4%) were negative on depression screening. Increasing age and presence of depressive symptoms had significant association with sexual dysfunction (p<0.05). Conclusion: The prevalence of sexual dysfunction was found to be high among diabetic women. Female diabetic patients with increasing age should also be screened regularly for psycho-sexual problems.